It's Time For A Change!
by Fifth-Of-Fourth
Summary: When you have the opportunity to change your life for the better, you obviously won't even consider letting things go the way they did, right? That would be boring! Now that they are back to the start, they are going to take another brighter route in their life. Saner? You wish! Time-travel fic. AceLu, MarcoSanji, SaboLaw.
1. Must Save Little Brother

Chapter re-uploaded. :) Chapter 2, 3 and 11 will be restored too! :D

**I do not own One Piece**

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Ace wasn't quite sure of what he was looking at. Or where he was for that matter. In the world of the dead, everything looked pretty much the same and one thing could be anything.

As far as he was concerned, his job was quite done even though he wasn't quite satisfied of how he had accomplished it. Yes, he had sworn to protect Luffy from anything and he had done just that. However, it was just too fast! Ace wasn't even given the luxury of time to overlook his journey and watched him accomplish his dream of being the next Pirate King. As much as it was hard for anyone normal to believe that an unbelieving numbskull but strangely adorable brother of his accompanied by a charming short attention span to accomplish his feat, Ace had forced himself to have faith in his brother which said faith only eventually grew completely sincere after meeting his crew members.

Surely, those people must be very capable in handling his brother, right?

But Ace just had to remind himself that Luffy had, in the end, broke into Impel Down and made a foolish yet endearing attempt to throw himself into a war in order to save his brother. Honestly if Ace was back in his childhood, he would've laughed himself to the point of death if anyone even tried to imagine Luffy saving him from a bear!

Yep, he had complete faith in his brother!

Ace closed his eyes as he let himself drift further into thought as well, completely oblivious to the binding light that had appeared within the unnaturally white sky. Luffy… he missed his sworn brother dearly despite every single times Luffy had landed both of them into heaps of trouble. Truthfully even when he was saved from such a tedious routine after leaving Fuchsia Village, his life felt as weird as wearing two layers of clothes. It was just not the same without having Luffy around. Just when he was smiling to himself at the image of his grinning brother appeared in his mind, he felt a cooling breeze slapping softly against his skin.

What?

"Ace… Ace!"

Now that was something that he hadn't heard in decades (Or at least, it felt like that much of time had passed)! Voices!

"Yes?" Ace answered without opening his eyes because if he did, he would feel rather stupid for speaking to… white.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes, I obviously am."

"You don't look like you did." The voice sounded very skeptical this time.

Ace sighed impatiently. Luckily, there wasn't anyone else in here or else he'd truly look incredibly silly for speaking to white. But what could he do? When he had chosen not to respond, the voice only grew louder and more annoying. Was this a new kind of hell? That would be pretty lame if Ace were to feel tortured over something as minor as this. He wondered how Sabo was managing in here after he was blasted from the world.

"This is not the time to be ignoring me!" The voice shouted louder this time and the sound of a tight slap echoed in the air.

Ouch.

"What the hell?!" Ace exclaimed and finally opened his eyes.

Only to find himself staring dumbly at the subject of his thoughts just a few seconds ago.

"Sabo?!"

Sabo raised one of his eyebrow at his friend's behavior. "Yes, the one and only. I hope you weren't trying to remember my name just now because this is not the time to do it!" Sabo snapped angrily and crossed his arms over his chest. "As I was saying when you didn't listen to me, that strawhat kid probably didn't tell those pirates that-Hey! What the heck, Ace?!" Sabo raised his voice when Ace suddenly leaped forward and enveloped him in a tight hug.

"I thought you were dead!"

"No… unless you were having secret thoughts of wanting me dead. Tell me the truth," he demanded.

"But you did die!"

Sabo's right eyebrow twitched again, feeling the need to avoid a few meters away from Ace incase he was secretly planning to blast him off the world. Or maybe that strawhat kid had broken his brain? With his constant chattering and following, it wouldn't be surprised for someone as short-tempered as Ace to finally crack out of anger. And he already usually had to wonder if Ace was crazy for challenging people who were obviously out of his league. But hey, at least Sabo managed to save his ass a couple of times before he had gotten more injured than he should. Although they did ended up beating the crap out of those adults in the end.

"Yes, yes, I died and probably thanks to you," Sabo muttered sarcastically. He was starting to feel very, very awkward. "Look, the only reason why you might be hugging me would be either you are secretly planning to kill me while I'm distracted or you might be in love with me. And I'd rather deal with the first than the second."

Ace immediately let go of him and looked at him in shock. "In love with you?" He echoed, as though Sabo had compared his brain with Luffy's. "Never in a million years and why would I want to kill you?"

"I don't know," Sabo replied truthfully with a shrug. Ace was kind of weird in many ways. "Anyway, did you just hear what I said?"

"Uh… which part?"

Sabo groaned and slapped his forehead. "I said, the strawhat kid might not have said anything to those guys. They didn't come to our old secret spot for the treasures!" he cried out desperately, hoping that his words did seep into what little sanity was left in his friend's head.

"I don't… get it."

"You stupid fool!" Sabo exclaimed, already suspecting that the strawhat kid had truly made a decline in Ace's thinking ability. "Look, don't you remember? That strawhat kid who had been tagging you for days was captured by the pirate we had stolen the loot from. And judging by their lack of appearance, I don't think the strawhat kid spilled anything. And it is highly possible that he is being tortured this very instant!"

Those words did sound oddly familiar. Ace narrowed his eyes and tried to think back at the time he had heard those words. It was before the first time that Ace had started to get friendlier with Luffy, wasn't it? Ace and Sabo had stolen from pirates and Luffy had found out about it. However, because Luffy was too weak at that time, the pirates had caught him with ease. But no matter how much the pirates tortured his stupid, lovable brother, Luffy didn't spill anything and had to be saved by the two of them. It was a long way back in the memory lane and before Ace knew it, he was caught up in a nostalgic moment.

Too caught up to dodge another slap to the other side of his cheeks.

"Why the heck are you smiling?! That kid might be in danger, you sadist!" Sabo shouted.

"Ow, you don't have to slap me!" Ace retorted and decided to shake himself out of his spur of stupidity.

Wait, this wasn't his thoughts at all. This was reality. Looking around, he found himself in the familiar part of the forest where him and Sabo had moved their treasure to. What the honest fuck happened? Looking down himself, he found that he was… wearing a shirt! Since when did he start to wear one when it wasn't snowing? Other than the first discovery that he was indeed wearing a shirt, Ace had noticed that he was quite tiny as well… in both ways. He looked up and was finally snapped to reality. Sabo… Sabo wasn't dead! He was right in front of him! And he was back in time whereby they had to save Luffy in probably a few minutes or else he would die.

But before that…

"Sabo, I have an odd request."

"You always do but speak your mind."

"Could you slap me again?"

Sabo compiled without a second thought.

"Ouch!" Ace groaned as he rubbed both of his cheeks. He didn't mean for Sabo to slap him two times although he knew that Sabo probably felt tempted to give him more than just two. So if he was indeed in the timeline where he assumed he was in… "Sabo, could you repeat what you said to me about the strawhat kid?" Ace asked, feeling the need to hear it again.

"If you know it then why do you bother having me wasting my breath?" Sabo asked impatiently before giving in when he realized Ace wouldn't go anywhere unless he did what he was told. "The pirates are probably torturing the strawhat kid-Wait! I'm not done yet!"

Sabo had to try to keep up with Ace who had dashed in an inhumanely speed of light towards the hut whereby his dear brother was being tortured.

Someone will die.

Someone will definitely die.

And it won't be Ace. Or Luffy. Or Sabo.

Upon nearing the hut, Ace immediately burst into it with a dangerous looking pole in the hand. Okay, maybe it wasn't the pole that was making him look dangerous but the fire in his eyes made him look homicidal. He was out to kill someone and the poor souls happened to be right in front of him. Was that a nail bat he was holding? Luffy did mentioned that he was hit repeatedly with that the last time, didn't he? Kidnapping his adorable brother was one thing but hitting him with a nail bat was a whole new plea to be killed. Ace had never been nice whenever someone attempted to hurt his brother ever since he had saved him from a freaking bear.

"A-Ace!" Luffy exclaimed with tears in his eyes.

Oh, that was the very last straw.

If Ace had already grown a protective streak towards Luffy even when Smoker and Blackbeard tried to capture him, little Luffy just tripled that protectiveness.

"You," Ace proclaimed dramatically as he pointed his pole at the leader. "You hurt my precious, adorable brother. I'm not even going to wait for what you are going to say for yourself but I'll at least let you know that you will die a very painful death."

"Brother?" The leader repeated. "Didn't that kid say that you're always trying to get rid of him and wouldn't spill or else you won't be his friend?"

"Lies!" Ace exclaimed.

"But you did…" Luffy whimpered, though not unhappy at Ace's sudden proclamation. Not that Luffy had ever thought that far of being his brother at this point of time but after chasing Ace around painfully for days, he'd rather settled what he was offered even when said offer seemed too good to be true.

Ace turned his attention towards Luffy and immediately softened, not hearing what he had just said. "Don't worry, Lu. I'm going to kill these bastards in a heartbeat for doing this to you that they won't even remember how was babies were given birth."

Before Luffy could open his mouth to ask that very question, Ace had already sprung into action and had whacked the pirates around in ease as though he was playing whack-a-mole. Even though he was physically challenged due to his smaller status, he did have his fighting capabilities and quick thinking after gaining experience during his times out in the sea. These guys were so pathetically predictable that even Chopper could defeat them without having to transform.

In the end, the one who remained standing was obvious. Ace tossed his pole out of the hut, ignoring the pained cry from whomever had the worst luck of having the pole thrown at and proceeded to untie Luffy from the ceiling. Ace immediately brought the teary eyed and very confused kid into his arms, giving him assurance in a gentle tone that everything was fine while rubbing the back of Luffy's head. Luffy, on the other hand, only returned the gesture by wrapping his rubber arms around Ace.

Sabo, when he entered the hut, was stunned into silence before Ace noticed him.

"Hey, Sabo. You're late. And what happened to your head?" he asked, pointing his thumb at the bump that had grown on Sabo's head.

"Wild guess," Sabo replied sarcastically and walked towards Ace and Luffy with his arms crossed. "What happened to you? You usually tried to shake him off your back every time the kid started to follow you everywhere."

Ace waved his hand lazily. "That was in the past."

"That past happened only less than an hour ago!"

"Still," Ace reasoned in his best abilities, "How would you be able to stand shoving someone as adorable as little Lu away? Look at him! He was obviously scared to death because you didn't save him before he was brought here!"

"You're blaming ME?" Sabo asked incredulously. "And since when have you taken a liking to him? Didn't you say you hated weak people?"

"Luffy isn't weak!" Ace objected, further giving Sabo the thought that Ace had finally gone nuts.

Luffy sniffled and looked up at Ace with teary eyes while biting his bottom lips. "R-Really…? Ace really feels that I'm not weak?"

Needless to say, the effect of Luffy's face was astoundingly great that Ace had hugged Luffy tighter while agreeing with him. Even Sabo couldn't find himself disliking Luffy when he had put up that face-Wait, he had never disliked Luffy before. Irritated, yes but never disliked him to the point that he would lead Luffy to falling off a bridge. That was mostly Ace's job at the said cruel sadist was currently doting Luffy as though he was his lover! But you might never guess. Ace might as well had fallen in love with Luffy over the period of time and was only… what was that word… tsundere towards him.

Still, it seemed highly unlikely.

"Let's keep him, Sabo!" Ace announced suddenly and broke Sabo out of his thoughts.

Sabo raised his eyebrow, which he felt like he had been doing for too many times in a day, and replied, "Keep him? He is not an animal, you know. But since he seemed quite attached towards you and even impressively keeping his mouth shut from those adults, I guess it wouldn't hurt to have him join us."

Luffy's eyes widened in delight and let out a cheer before settling to a huge grin. "Yay! That means Ace finally likes me!"

Seconds later, Sabo found himself trying to stop Ace from crushing Luffy with an extremely tight and loving hug.


	2. Sabo's Two Idiot Brothers

Re-uploaded!

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Ever since Ace had saved Luffy from the bunch of adults, Sabo had decided that his friend was officially abnormal.

If you put aside the fact that he was the son of the late Pirate King and had the tendency to pick fights even with people who had only thrown a single lame-assed insult towards Luffy's brain, he had to acknowledge that setting every single shirt he had on fire was definitely not what kids do. Sabo loved wearing clothes, Luffy loved wearing clothes but apparently Ace had something against having clothes. After proclaiming that he wasn't used to wear clothes, which Sabo doubted him greatly because during every minute of his life when Ace was involved, he would wear one. Heck, he was even retaliating when Dadan tried to undress him for a shower though he presumed that anyone would be scared shitless if a huge-ass female were to try to strip them. If Ace weren't being so damn persistent on it, Sabo would choose to never meet Dadan and the bandits.

Back to the topic, aside from strangely being a habit and it looked cool, Sabo had this nagging feeling in his mind that Ace wanted to feel better when Luffy hugged him.

Remind Sabo to keep Luffy from Ace as much as possible although Sabo wouldn't guarantee himself that his life wouldn't be in danger. To encourage that thought, Ace had been speaking about his death solemnly in his sleep that Sabo actually thought that he had done something wrong which made Ace out for his life. He already swore that the time when Luffy had barged in while the blonde was bathing and forcefully made Sabo bathed him too after Ace did was not intentional. It was difficult dealing with a jealous and short-tempered person like Ace.

Speaking of short-tempered, Sabo also found out that Ace rarely threw a temper at Luffy but he would throw one for the sake of Luffy. And that was why, it was quite a sight when he saw them fighting. Sabo would never had dreamt of it happening after losing bets to himself that it would definitely happen in the past. Now, he was dealing with two angry kids who created their own 'country' in badly made doghouses.

"Are you guys serious?" Sabo asked while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hmph, it's all Ace's fault," Luffy insisted stubbornly. "Sabo can join Luffy's Country if you want."

"Feh. As if he would join yours. If anything, he would rather join mine," the half-naked kid said from his own hut.

Sabo sighed and shook his head at them. Just when he thought that Luffy might be slightly more mature than Ace, they just had to pull a stunt like this. "I think I would rather join Dadan's country. Feel free to drop by when you finally clear your brains."

Which might take quite awhile.

A few crickets had flown by ever since Sabo had returned to Dadan's home and neither of the two had spoken a word to each other. Ace had finally given up and made his way into the forest so that he could cool down. As much as he had changed after puberty hits, some old habits really die-hard. He didn't mean to snap at Luffy after he finished every single meat they had cooked… okay, maybe he did mean to snap at him but somehow, he felt extremely childish. Being responsible and mature was even harder than he thought; if he was ever either one of them, that is.

Luffy glanced at Ace's retreating figure from the corner of his eyes, feeling the urge to follow him out of instinct before he managed to push himself firmly onto the ground. It wasn't his fault that he was too hungry to save some and Ace could afford avoid snapping at him just because of that. He was, of course, sincerely overjoyed that Ace had accepted him as a friend became sworn brother after the painful incident and in exchange, Luffy had worshipped every step the guy took. But emotionally, he often went to Sabo for comfort since the blonde was obviously the more sensible one.

"Stupid Ace…" Luffy grumbled tiredly, he was worn out mostly due to the fight he had with Ace.

Finally, the silence did a nice trick of putting the little one to sleep.

After what it seemed like years in his dreams when it had only been a good hour in reality, Luffy finally snapped himself out of his sleep.

He felt something weird this time. Usually he wouldn't remember what his dreams was about but everyone knew that it would be meat and more meat anyway. However, he could remember every single second of his dream that it was starting to get a little scary. The worst part was that he had even dreamt of Ace dying after becoming a pirate, joining another crew, seeking a fat man named Blackbeard for revenge and getting himself up on the execution platform. Luffy, in his older self, had rushed to a place called Impel Down then Marineford to rescue Ace from his impending doom but had failed because Ace had sacrificed himself in order to save Luffy.

Those 'dreams' had felt so real that they did feel like a part of his memory.

The very last five minutes in his 'dream', he could distinctively see the treasure One Piece in his hand and everything grew bright.

_One piece is not a treasure; it is a dimensional object grants it's owner a chance to redeem their treasures, whether if they are already lost or never should be seen again._

The voice had echoed in this head when Pirate King Luffy had picked up One Piece and immediately after words, the image of his friends, Sabo, Ace and everyone that were connected to even his friends appeared in his mind.

He always had the treasure but he had lost it in parts of his life. One Piece had always meant the first piece to start from to gather the rest of the pieces.

"It means that the adventure that I had been just the first chapter," Luffy murmured to himself absent mindedly before he was snapped back to attention.

Outside the 'doghouse', it was raining heavily and probably wouldn't stop until nighttime. Didn't Ace just left his shelter and went into the forest? Luffy's head still felt fuzzy because the memories of his previous, future timeline was in the process of merging with the current timeline. At least he got the basics of him being back in his childhood down or else he would already be wondering why was Ace tiny and not wearing a damned shirt.

As the memories started to catch up, Luffy's eyes widened when he remembered that the more ferocious animals tend to appear during the raining period and it would be difficult for anyone to fight in the rain! Ace also possessed a fire-type devil fruit powers, didn't he (Although Luffy had never thought of going back in time meant Ace had never gotten the devil fruit yet in the first place)? But did common sense still apply to Luffy? No. And that was why Luffy sped out of his doghouse recklessly and into the forest to search for his brother whom would have died again if Luffy didn't manage to get there on time.

After finally being able to have the chance to have Ace back in his life, he'd throw himself into the sea if he were to lose it to an animal!

In the middle of running, a loud roar had caught his attention and he immediately steered his way to his right. His instincts were telling him that this was the right way and he had never thought about questioning them even when his own crew did. At least they had turned out right more than half of the time.

"Ace!" Luffy cried out when he saw Ace's small figure lying against the tree and a bear was hovering over him. He was still conscious as he had only been delivered a single hit after getting caught by surprise from behind. It was still that difficult to listen through the loud splattering of rain and Ace never liked it anyway. "Stop it!" Luffy shouted and immediately activated his Haki which successfully reduced the ferocious bear into a whimpering mess.

"Luffy!" Ace shouted back, stunned that Luffy had mastered his Haki and another important thing.

Luffy did save him from a bear!

Ace had already started planning to wear a paper bag over his head for the rest of his life.

Luffy immediately dove towards Ace and hugged him tightly. God, he had almost lost his brother! Luffy was so worried and scared that he didn't realize Ace was contemplating on hiding his face from the world in pure embarrassment after being saved by Luffy, of all people. And in his child self, no less! And knowing Luffy, he'd probably spill it all out when Sabo asked them what had they been doing all this time. Think of all of his pride crumbling into pieces was enough for Ace to consider returning to the white world in shame.

"Thank god, Ace. I thought that I would lose you the second time," Luffy cried in his chest.

Still a crybaby.

"Idiot! I didn't ask for you to save me-Wait, what do you mean second time?" Ace asked. Sure, he wouldn't remember how many times he almost lost Luffy in this timeline because it was just too many for him to count but he could at least remember as clear as day that this was the first time Ace was almost lost.

"You're the idiot! You died while saving me in Marineford, remember?" Luffy blurted out.

"Marineford… Wait a minute, Lu. Since when did you remember stuffs like that?" Ace demanded.

"After I woke up…?"

Ace looked at him weirdly before deciding to ask more sensible questions which had higher chances of getting sensible answers so that he wouldn't kill his brain. "So let me get this straight. We were adults… probably I was twenty and you were seventeen. After I died saving you in Marineford as you've said you remembered, what happened afterwards?"

"Jinbe brought me somewhere and I started training with Reyleigh for two years to control my Haki. After that I got reunited with my friends and things happened before I became the Pirate King. I found the One Piece and I think that the One Piece brought me back here."

Okay, that kind of made sense judging from the world they had to live in.

"One Piece did?" Ace murmured. It would make sense to bring Luffy's original memories back in time since he had become the true owner of One Piece but why Ace had received the benefits too? "I'm going to have to take a look into that."

"How?"

"We find it, of course."

"Eh, but I already found it when I became the Pirate King!"

"You did? Do you have it with you now?"

"Of course not! I haven't even find it again yet!"

Ace delivered a fine chop onto Luffy's head. "Then we /find/ it!" he snapped.

Which means that they would have to restart everything. It felt a little weird since somewhere halfway through when Ace joined the Whitebeard's crew, he had been so focused on finding that damned Blackbeard and had no interest in the One Piece. Now, everything seemed reversed. Their lives were definitely going to be different but Ace still wanted to be part of Whitebeard's crew in this timeline while he was sure that Luffy would want to find his friends. But at the same time, they couldn't part ways now that they had to stick together to pass on information to each other as often as they could. As easy as it sound, Ace knew it wasn't.

"We have to be pirates again though and I kind of lost interest in being the Pirate King so you can be one."

"Like I would want to," Ace retorted. Leave it to Luffy to not pursue the dream that he had already achieved. At least now he could make Whitebeard the Pirate King without feeling any guilt. "Let's go back and you can tell me about your stories along the way, okay?"

Luffy nodded enthusiastically and stood up. "Go back where?"

"To Dadan's house, of course," Ace replied and started to walk off. A few minutes later when he felt that Luffy was following him, Ace turned around and stared at him.

Luffy tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Ace?"

"Normally, you'd grab me and beg me cutely to stop walking too fast because you're scared that you might lose your way…"

"Eh? But I don't feel like doing that."

"Don't say things like that which will ruin my dreams!" Ace cried out while shaking Luffy by the collar of his shirt.

"Ace is so weird," Luffy remarked casually with a grin.

When Ace and Luffy returned to Dadan's house, Sabo was just sitting casually at the table while looking through a book written by pirates. He wasn't surprised that Ace and Luffy had made up so fast but instead, was getting worried at how they hadn't made up. Sabo gave out a sigh of relief when Ace and Luffy came into view.

Then Sabo noticed something strange about Luffy.

Luffy wasn't grabbing onto Ace like how he would always do so whenever he entered Dadan's hut in fear of getting a scolding for staying out of the rain for too long. Dadan wasn't back in the moment and Sabo was nice enough not to rat them out. Aside from that, Sabo also noticed the look on Luffy's expression. He swore that he had never seen Luffy looking so calm and collected in his life that it was kind of frightening. Did the both of them get into another fight? It seemed very unlikely but Sabo couldn't come up with a reason of Luffy's new change. He couldn't say what for sure but Sabo was certain that the change did happen.

"Oi, what happened to you guys?" Sabo finally decided to ask.

He was taken aback when Luffy suddenly tackled him into a hug.

"Sabo! You're not dead!" Luffy cried out in happiness.

"What the heck?" First Ace and now it was Luffy? Why did his brothers like to randomly speak of his death? Were they plotting to kill him or something? They had to be! "Were you expecting me to die? Which food did you put poison in, huh?"

Instead of replying, Luffy let out waterfalls of tears while continue clinging onto Sabo despite the latter's futile attempt to push him away. Ace just merely stood by and watched the scene with an amused grin. Although Ace hadn't been as melodramatic as Luffy, he could probably relate to the happiness he felt when Sabo was indeed alive in front of them. Everything had changed so drastically which could prove the impact of the cause of Sabo's death. Both Ace and Luffy were so stricken that they hadn't been the same anymore. But now, they would hold the deceased Sabo's words in the past slash future and appreciate his presence now.

Of course, they weren't going to let him die this time.

No matter what means and methods they had to use.

"Okay, that's enough!" Sabo finally exclaimed and managed to pry Luffy off him. "Geez, what really happened to the both of you?"

"S-Sabo… I-I… U-Uuuh…"

"Stop crying or else I can't get what you're trying to say!"

"Nothing much. Luffy is just being weird," Ace replied and hugged Luffy close to him instead. "By the way, we have something important to discuss…"

The look in Ace's eyes really made Sabo wanted to bolt for his life.


	3. A Plan To Save A Precious Life

Re-Uploaded!

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While Sabo was screaming for help to unchain him from his position against the tree, Ace and Luffy were having a very important discussion.

The both of them were definitely planning to keep Sabo away from his family and prevent him from escaping with a ship while the World Nobles were visiting Goa Kingdom. At least, they had to work out a plan that could keep the three of them together until Ace and Sabo reached the age of seventeen. After that, they would take Luffy away with them for obvious reasons. Come to think of it, why did Ace even left without waiting for Luffy anyway? Up until now, he couldn't remember the reason why he had done such a silly thing. Leaving Luffy all by himself wasn't the best idea of all. But at least Luffy managed to gain his bounty in such a short time.

The plan to keep Sabo away from his family was simple. It was either they used all of their attention and willpower to keep his family from finding out that he was with them or made Sabo fake his death so that his family would give up. Ace and Luffy would rather take the latter choice since it was the easier one out of the two. They also knew how much Sabo hated his family and wouldn't mind going with either plan as long as it wouldn't endanger Ace and Luffy. What a worrywart.

But in order to do that, they would need Sabo to cooperate meaning that they would have to tell him about everything. Ace seriously hoped that Sabo would believe them and wouldn't think that they were crazier than Sabo had thought. The blonde kid even once made a suggestion to Dadan that they should be kept behind bars like animals. But to his defense, Ace and Luffy sometimes burst out into tears and chanting about his death after waking up in the morning. He was creeped out but he still chose to stick with them anyway so that had to at least mean something, right?

Meanwhile, it was also good that Ace and Luffy retained their memories from their 'future' selves which would make their traveling so much easier. Because Luffy wouldn't meet his friends until three years after Ace left, Luffy would have to deal with the Whitebeard Pirates until the time comes.

"So how about joining the Whitebeard crew?"

"I don't wanna."

Ace didn't even have to continue asking and smirked instead. "Alright, alright. Where did we left off before we arrived here again? You were talking about the Supernovas, right? It'd be great if you could get them back as your allies again."

"Yeah, I definitely want Law and Kid back."

"Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law? The two of them do have pretty high bounty if I remember correctly. I can understand Kid since he had the highest one among but any specific reasons why Law too?"

"Law is really strong and is a great doctor as well! He is the one who saved me and helped me escape from Marineford. Even after we parted ways, he would still treat me as an ally and take good care of me. Being with Kid and Law made me feel as though I'm with you and Sabo," Luffy explained nostalgically.

Ace, on the other hand, was looking at him with his mouth agape.

Did he and Sabo just got replaced?!

No, it was true that Luffy was the kind who needed someone to take care of him and he knew that they would be people around him who would volunteer to do so despite his brother's crazy antics. But Sabo and Ace should be his one and only brothers. The closest ones to him even though they pretty much hadn't been around anymore after periods of time. For some reason, Ace was starting to remind himself to keep a lookout for Kid and Law. It was obvious that Luffy still had a strong attachment towards them. The Strawhat Pirates were fine since it was normal for a crew to take care and worry for their captain but the two guys mentioned were supposed to be Luffy's rivals or enemies in the first place! Even though Luffy really did have the power to turn the people he met into his friends, there was something about the relationship between Luffy, Law and Kid that made Ace's hair stand in wary.

Or maybe it was just his brother complex talking.

As Luffy continued to chatter about Law and Kid, Ace grew even more possessive over Luffy. This was bad. If he didn't survive throughout the adventure with Luffy, there was already someone else who would come and snatch his spot away in Luffy's heart. The way Luffy spoke about Law and Kid so fondly was like how Ace would ravel about Luffy to the Whitebeard Pirates. This wasn't right! This wasn't right at all!

"Lu!" Ace suddenly exclaimed, snapping Luffy out of his ramblings and looked at his older sworn brother in confusion. Ace gripped onto Luffy's shoulder and started shaking him while looking very nervous. "I'll protect you from now on, alright? There is no need for you to have allies since big brother is going to wipe out anyone who tries to hurt you. So do you understand? Just find your crew and pretend nothing else happened."

"Eh, why? Law and Kid are pretty awesome people and I want to meet them again!" Luffy exclaimed enthusiastically.

It was worse than when Luffy used to chatter in his ears about Shanks!

"No, Lu! Think about it. What if they are trying to take advantage of you or something? They are supposed to be your rivals!" Ace asked out of concern.

"Taking advantage? But we always take advantage of each other," he replied bluntly.

That… didn't really help much. If anything, Ace had broken down even more than before. "Taken advantage of each other? What the hell have you been doing in your adventure, Luffy? Didn't I tell you that you can never even kiss someone on the lips!"

"Huh? What are you talking about? We didn't kiss," Luffy said in confusion.

Ace sighed in relief at that.

"But Law did give me something like… CPR? It was every time after I fell into the sea or water."

What was the difference?!

"So they did take advantage of you!"

"Ah… if you say so," Luffy answered while leaving Ace to his inner turmoil. "By the way, shouldn't it be time that we released Sabo?"

"Luffy, this is serious!" As if. "I told you many times not to accept kisses from other people. Your first kiss is very important and it should be claimed by no one but your big brother instead!"

Luffy made a face. "So troublesome. If that's all then why don't you kiss me now since I hadn't kissed anyone in this timeline?"

That was actually a good idea.

In fact, why didn't Ace thought of this before setting off in the other timeline? He really hated his childhood now. The little him from before seemed to have a lot more 'tsundere' and pride issues to even think about claiming Luffy's lips at that time. He remembered how much he started to adore Luffy after Sabo's death and eventually became protective over him as the both of them grew up. Ace worked hard everyday so that he could become strong enough so that Luffy wouldn't have to dread over the possibilities of him dying (although he actually did, in the end) but how could he had never thought of claiming his lips first?

At the moment, Ace was looking at Luffy with his mouth slightly agape as though he couldn't believe Luffy had suggested that. Heck, he was in shock over the fact that Luffy wouldn't have denied his kisses if Ace tried. So what was he exactly doing for his entire life? The previous timeline seemed more like a joke to him now. But back to the point, if he wanted to steal Luffy's 'first kiss', then this would be the perfect chance for him to do so!

"O-Okay. Since you suggested it," Ace said and leaned over to brush his lips against Luffy.

Holy roger, that felt better than drinking ten bottles of alcohol!

Ace felt his face heat up when Luffy made no move to push himself away and continued on by grabbing Luffy by the shoulders to pull him closer. Luffy was a bit confused but remained still so that Ace would be able to get what he wanted and stopped complaining. It was just a kiss so Luffy didn't figure out why Ace had become so worked up over it. At least, Ace seemed pretty happy and there wasn't any harm done.

"Finally Dadan returned home. Now expla-" Sabo stopped in mid sentence when he barged into a pretty intense scene.

"Oh, Sabo!" Luffy greeted after breaking the kiss, making Ace curse mentally at Sabo.

"Couldn't you pick a better timing?" Ace asked in annoyance before realizing that Sabo wasn't in the mood to joke around. They did chain him up to the tree for hours. "U-Uh, I mean. Welcome back, Sabo. Did you have fun?"

That was it.

"Fun! Fun?" Sabo roared while his face was red from anger and embarrassment. "The two of you freaking chained me to a tree without any explanation then when I come back, I see the both of you kissing! If you guys had wanted to kiss so badly then just tell me so that I can leave on my own. Do you think that I would want to see the both of you making out? What is the big idea with your head anyway, idiots?! I thought you guys were planning to kill me off!"

"We can explain it!" Ace defended while Luffy started to pick his nose. "I mean, I can explain it!"

"Then explain!"

Ace then proceeded to explain everything about what had happened in the previous timeline. How Sabo died when a World Noble fired at his ship during his escapade when all Sabo did was accidentally steered his ship too close to them. It was a stupid reason and Ace had hated the World Nobles even more ever since then. Then he went on to tell Sabo about the Whitebeard Pirates, the Strawhat Pirates and his share of adventures. Of course, he left his execution at Marineford for next time because he didn't need Sabo to laugh at him for needing Luffy to save his ass. But hey, he saved Luffy's ass in return although it kind of took his life along with it.

"The both of you," Sabo started ever since Ace finished telling his story, "needs a doctor."

"We're not crazy!" Ace snapped. "What I am telling you is the truth! You would've escaped in a ship after being caught anyway!"

"True," Sabo mused. He was still pretty much in shock and confusion. "But how did you know that my parents are… nobles?"

Ace rolled his eyes. "I've told you Sabo, you were the one who told us about it. But we didn't care much since it doesn't matter what family you come from. I know it's hard to believe me but I need you to. Luffy cried and wet his bed ever since you died!"

Sabo glanced at Luffy. "Didn't he still wet his bed now?"

"I do not!"

"He won't from now on because he had gotten his memories back from our timeline… hopefully," Ace muttered. "You don't have anything to lose from listening to us, Sabo. If this still doesn't convince you then maybe the love letter we found when we were ransacking your room would!"

Sabo blushed when his secret was apparently wasn't one anymore. "That wasn't a love letter, you idiots! It was a list of girls my parents want me to marry to!"

Luffy made a weird face again. "Marry a girl? It sounds gross. I don't want to marry anyone other than Ace! There was this girl called Hancock who kept asking me to marry her. Although she is a good person but I find her pretty weird."

"What?" Ace shouted, although he was happy that Luffy wanted to marry him, he wasn't happy about another girl wanting to marry him.

"Let's save that for later," Sabo interrupted and closed his eyes in deep thought.

It was true that judging from ever since Ace's weird behavior back when they were saving Luffy, his claims should be possible. No matter how hard a rock hit somebody, they couldn't end up as idiotic as Luffy, right? Not only Ace's behavior had changed drastically, Sabo could clearly see the difference in Luffy's within a short amount of time. Maybe it was because that Luffy wasn't crying for Ace or clinging onto him twenty-four seven. And not to mention that they also knew about his heritage which Sabo was only planning to tell them a few days later. To top it off, Sabo would've run off in a ship if he were to be caught by his parents again instead of returning to Dadan's hut so that he wouldn't give his brothers more troubles.

But in the end, it really did seemed like a fairytale worthy story.

But judging the world they live in, was anything even impossible?

"Alright, I believe you." Sabo gave a sigh. At least Ace was right; he wouldn't have anything to lose if they believed them. "So the reason why you are telling me this is because you have a plan to change my fate, right? Let's hear it."

"We're going to go along as it proceeded in the other timeline except that when you sail out of the country's sight, Luffy will use his ability to bring you back onto the cliff we exchanged sake at," Ace explained.

"You mean to say that my life is being depended on Luffy?" Sabo asked in shock and stared at the grinning kid.

Ace groaned and nodded. "Trust me, he should at least be able to be depended on for that. Luffy did get stronger during his travels and I've seen it for myself."

"You do realize that you would be the second last person that I'd believe, right?" Sabo asked unsurely.

"Shut up and agree with the plan already," Ace snapped impatiently.

"Geez, fine, fine," Sabo muttered in the end and decided to give it a shot. It was either that or he ended up dying anyway. "Basically, we're going to trick them that I'm dead so that they wouldn't pursue me anymore, right? But that would mean that I would have to change my name or at least, my family name."

Luffy raised up his hand. "How about Sakazuki? Someone told me before that it's a name for a ritual of exchanging sake!"

"Luffy. You do realize that it also belongs the name to the same person who killed me off, right?" Ace asked slowly.

"Killed you off?" Sabo questioned.

"Nothing, nothing!"

Luffy pouted. "But it's a good name! Just because Sabo has that name doesn't make him the same as that stupid guy. Besides, the name would sound much better and cooler if Sabo were to take it instead! So how about it? Sabo Sakazuki!"

"It actually doesn't sound that bad," Sabo mused.

"I'm reluctant but I'm not going to stop you if you're going to use that," Ace grumbled.

_Saving me, huh… _Sabo thought as he laid beside the sleeping Ace and sleeping Luffy.

He had never thought that he would be saved by Ace or Luffy, of all people, since Sabo had been the one saving them from troubles most of the time. The revelation had been very sudden and unexpected but there always had to be an explanation for their weird behaviors. How did Sabo decided to trust them in the end? The world was cruel and there was hardly anyone you could trust, But Luffy, especially that kid, was an exception. First thing was that it was glaringly obvious to tell when Luffy was lying. Second was Luffy happened to be a very pure kid, something that Sabo was fully sure of (if he was wrong, he'd gladly exchange his stomach anytime). Ace and Sabo had stuck around each other most of the time before Luffy came in so they were pretty close too.

Ace and Luffy also happened to be the only friends he ever had.

The only brothers Sabo would accept.

It was really touching how they wanted to give it their all to prevent Sabo's fate. Luffy had even mentioned that Ace cried (Ace wondered how did Luffy ever found out) and that really had to be something else. Sabo wasn't surprised that Luffy cried (mainly because he kind of did a few hours ago while speaking of Sabo's death) but Ace crying was another whole new level. Sabo couldn't even imagine him crying when he was a toddler!

One thing is for sure that Sabo was grateful to his brothers and he'd be damned if he were to end up disappointing them more than he did in the previous timeline.


	4. End of Prologue: The United Brothers

**AN (Updated on 22/4/03): **

**MOTHER. OF. GOD. I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS WHILE I THOUGHT THAT I WAS CLEARING OUT MY DOCUMENTS IN THE DOC MANAGER. WORSE, THE THREE CHAPTERS ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAPTOP THAT MY FRIEND IS USING. OTL I MUST BE AN IDIOT!**

**ALSO, I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED CHAPTER 12 (WHICH IS IN BETWEEN CHAPTER 7 AND CHAPTER 8 NOW). OH GODDDDD. I WILL PUT THIS UP IN THE CURRENT FIRST CHAPTER SO THAT NEW READERS (HOPEFULLY I CAN RESTORE EVERYTHING BEFORE THERE ARE TTATT) WON'T GET CONFUSED.**

**/CONTINUES BASHING HEAD AGAINST THE DESK**

I'm sorry about the lateness of my update and the shortness of the new chapter. This chapter wil mark as the end of their childhood period and a timeskip will occur by the next one. It had been fun writing about their childhood so far although there wasn't much AceLu romance in this because of obvious reasons (they are kids, LOL!).

I'm also sorry if this chapter wasn't as entertaining because I had probably exhausted my brainpower throughout the days. OTL

**Death Phoenix: Thanks a lot! Don't worry, I pretty much have most of the things covered up and planned out but hopefully, it would live up to your expectations too. At least, I've had the meet up thing planned nicely. OTL**

**anonymous: Not much of AceLu romance in their childhood since I would feel like a pedo if I were to write more, for some reason. LOL. And... all I can say is that the meet up period won't be as what most of you would expect!**

**Son Goshen: Apparently with Ace's brother complex plus his crush on Luffy, even a sharing of drinks would be counted as kissing. XD But things will mellow down as they grew up since Ace couldn't control his emotions entirely as a kid.**

**BeebleTea17: Hahahaha! Or maybe Luffy was just that oblivious when it comes to the topic of romance. :P I don't have much to come up with to enhance the Fake Death plan so... DX**

**Hotaru Jaegerjaquez: Hmmm, I must say that Kidd and Law wouldn't be appearing soon since I'm still pondering over if I should give them back their memories as well. But all I can say that it wouldn't be pretty soon. D:**

**azab: Thank you and I'll try to make it a blast! :D**

* * *

Ace, Luffy and Sabo had acted according to the former two's memory (Luffy still didn't like being shot while Ace had never felt so accomplished in mocking Sabo's parents in his life) in their best abilities. As they expected, Sabo's parents had locked him up in the wine cellar and it didn't take long for Sabo to escape the place according to Ace's instructions. As the predictions that Ace and Luffy did mostly came true (no one has a perfect memory), Sabo had believed them even more. He was even eager now to survive his fate so that he could see how did Luffy and Ace's lives turn about along with their friends.

Mostly, Sabo was curious about who were the poor guys who had such amazing tolerance to deal with his brothers.

Dealing with Bluejam definitely was no easy task. Although Ace and Luffy had the upperhand since they already knew all about their motives, there wasn't anything that could give them an easy runaway. Ace knew that no matter what, Gray Terminal would be burned down eventually since it was specifically ordered by the Nobles themselves. Even if they were to prevent Bluejam from doing so, the nobles would've played around with other pirates.

However, Ace had been well prepared beforehand and brought another knife for Luffy to cut their ropes. They were as well coordinated as they were at Marineford in the task and managed to run away before Bluejam arrived with his men. Before Bluejam knew it, he was trapped in Gray Terminal after scouting around for the two kids and was eventually burnt to death. Of course, Luffy had initially wanted to take them on but Ace prevented him from doing so since he didn't want Luffy to use his fully mastered Haki and risk attracting unwanted attention. Plus, there were also chances that his small body wouldn't be able to take it after too much usage.

Right now, Ace and Luffy were waiting at the top of the hill where they had exchanged their cups of sake for Sabo's ship. They had also instructed for Sabo to try and steer his boat near the cliff while close enough for the Nobles to turn red. And it shouldn't be a difficult feat since the Nobles just hated to set their sights on a poorly made ship and would probably set it on fire no matter how far they were. Ace had never thought that those idiots' pathetic brains could actually be made use of.

Although Sabo himself was reluctant to place his fate in Luffy's hands, he could at least trust Ace as much, right? After all, even though Ace was reckless and impulsive, he was considered the second brain out of the three brothers. Unlike Luffy, Ace actually had the patience and attention to sit down and plan things through as long as everything goes along smoothly without affecting anyone else. Sabo doubted Luffy could even sit through a serious discussion without getting lost in the middle of it. But since Luffy had became a Pirate King, Sabo chose to trust in his skills.

"That's Sabo's ship," Ace called out with a pair of binoculars in his hand.

Luffy immediately sprang up in action and waited very impatiently. "Where, where?" he asked excitedly, already ready to finish this whole thing so that they could celebrate over Sabo's escape from his death.

"There it is and the ship carrying the World Nobles are coming closer too. Remember Luffy, Sabo will be at the side of the ship which is facing us," Ace reminded while he kept his sights close on the two ships which was about to cross each other's paths.

"I got it! Shishishishi."

Soon, as they expected, the nobles had already set their sights on Sabo's ship and immediately flew into rage. They ordered fire onto the small boat and tried to sink it in their best abilities while the people back at Goa Kingdom looked in fear. Some knew who was on the ship but couldn't manage to stop him on time (good thing for that too).

It was lucky that the three brothers had trained with Naguri beforehand while Luffy already knew how to initiate his own battle techniques. However, there was a limit of how long his arm could stretch in proportion to his body and thus, Ace had also specifically instructed Sabo to sail as close to the cliff as possible. Adding on to their chances, Luffy had practiced this with his own crew too many times for him to miss.

"Alright! Now, Luffy," Ace ordered.

"Leave it to me!" Luffy pulled back his arm and shot towards Sabo's figure to grab his collar. "I got him!"

"Good! Pull him in!"

Sadly, Ace and Luffy didn't warn Sabo about what was about to come. Just when Sabo was thinking how did the two managed to find a way for him to land properly without sustaining injuries, his questions were pretty much answered when his head collided with Luffy's and his body collied with Ace's, sending all three of them tumbling back into the forest before they landed sprawled out on the ground. Sabo really should've known that such a thing called 'safety' had never occurred in his sworn brothers' minds. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to do this for the rest of their lives.

"Ow, that hurts," Sabo groaned as he rubbed the bump on his head before adding another one onto Luffy's and Ace's head. "Hadn't you guys ever thought of a safe landing before?!"

"But this is so much more fun!" Luffy protested.

"Luffy didn't use this on me before," Ace defended before adding a, "but he did with his crew many times."

That was it. Sabo feared their future as pirates.

"Come on, this isn't such a big deal at all," Luffy persuaded. Right. As if battling wasn't enough, they had to go out of their way to get more injuries. "But at least Sabo is safe now! We can go ahead and bring Sabo to the seas!"

"We still have to wait a few more years though," Sabo pointed out as he stood up and dusted his pants off.

At least now, he was able to fulfill his dreams of being a pirate without having to concern about his family interfering anymore. The news on his death should be spreading around by now, if Ace and Luffy were correct. He doubted that his parents would care anyway as long as no one in the family would taint their family name. He would train hard so that in future, if there was any chances of his parents pulling something off, he would be able to protect himself and his brothers. He wouldn't let him be the one being protected even though Luffy had became the Pirate King while Ace had made a name for himself.

Sabo looked as Ace and Luffy chatted about going out to the seas again, smiling briefly at how exciting it would be for the three of them to travel together. It had always been their dreams to have their own crew although Ace and Luffy had other plans now, Sabo could pull off a big one as a pirate too. He wouldn't mind following Ace and Luffy anywhere as long as he was granted the luxury of freedom.

That was, until Ace and Luffy started arguing who should Sabo go with.

"He should be in pop's crew," Ace said.

"No! He should come to mine and become our nakama," Luffy argued back.

"He could be better protected if he were to become a pirate under pop's name," Ace shot back.

"I would protect him better anyway," Luffy retorted.

Sabo sighed and whacked them over the heads. "I'm just going to be a freeloader at either of your crews. I'm not going to be protected by anyone so the both of you could forget about it. And don't give me that look," Sabo exclaimed when Ace and Luffy looked at him skeptically. "I just want my freedom and to be able to travel the seas, got that?"

"I thought Sabo wanted to be captain?" Luffy asked.

"That was the initial thought. Although I can easily win you guys in terms of brainpower, the both of you are already way ahead of me in terms of experience."

"We're not stupid!" Ace and Luffy exclaimed in unison.

Sabo rolled his eyes at the both of them. Right. Says the ones who would recklessly charge into a battle without thinking. Although they ended up winning most of the time, Sabo could predict that their lifespan would probably shorten in the long run and their luck wouldn't stay with them as much as they liked it to. They were too much prideful to back down from a fight and that would be a fatal mistake which would costing them more than just their own lives. Sabo felt like he had to be there to stop them. So, the idea of starting his own crew was pretty much scraped.

But Sabo couldn't say that they were completely stupid, it was just that they refused to apply their brains to things that they should.

"Let's return to Dadan before they start a funeral," Ace muttered and dragged both of his brothers back.

* * *

As expected, Dadan and the bandits were both shocked and relieved to find that Sabo was alive.

However, the three of them got scolded when they found out that they were trying to fake Sabo's death, thanks to Luffy's big mouth again. Dandan, on a side note, couldn't entirely blame them since she knew how much Sabo must have wanted to free himself from his own family who had been tormenting him for a long time. At least now they didn't have to worry about having one of them being taken away. When Sabo didn't show up at the hut, the bandits were pretty depressed at the lack of the familiar presence, meaning that Sabo had already became a part of their family too.

It was a risky decision to choose to hide Sabo but Dadan didn't have any second thoughts about it. She hated the Noble family as well and came to treat the three kids as her own (although she would never, ever admit such a thing).

That didn't mean that she let them off scot free though.

"I can't believe we were punished for helping Sabo," Ace grumbled as he was chopping the woods into half.

"I'll pay you guys back in future," Sabo reassured with a grin while he gathered the pieces of wood.

"I want lots of meat!" Luffy called out as he tied up the firewood together and tossed them to the side of the door with his ability.

"This should be the last batch," Sabo informed.

Ace picked up his pace and managed to chop them within a matter of minutes. "Good, the sun is about to set and I'll be damned if our dinner gets delayed because of this." Obviously, he wasn't in a very good mood.

Luffy snickered and tossed the tied up batch of firewood to the side of the door. "I can't wait to go on another adventure."

"Don't think too much about it," Sabo warned. He was kind of afraid that Luffy would run out to the sea and sail away at unpredictable times. He seemed excited enough to not wait. "We still have lots of training to do before Ace and I hit seventeen."

"Luffy would be only fourteen by then," Ace mused.

"It shouldn't matter, right? The training should be faster now that the both of you have your techniques up in your head. All that you need to do is to train your body and strengthen in physically for your techniques to work normally," Sabo added in.

"In Luffy's case, it will be easy for him to catch up in time. I relied on my devil's fruit power pretty much after I had gotten it so until then, I have to rely on my punches again."

"You said before that your devil fruit's power is a fire Logia type, right?" Sabo asked.

Ace nodded. "And I know exactly where to get it. I would prefer to go to that island before meeting up with pops so let's make it our first priority after we set sail. And to our luck, the island is in East Blue so it's just right in our way to the Grand Line."

"Travelling with Sabo and Ace, huh. I'm so excited about it," Luffy pondered aloud with a huge grin.

"I'm not going to lose out to the both of you even though you have the experience," Sabo teased.

"Heh, I will be even stronger than before," Ace challenged. "We have to do our best, Sabo. Luffy would be a lost case without us."

Luffy made a small noise when Sabo agreed with Ace without a second thought. Ace chuckled and brush his lips onto Luffy's forehead as Luffy had resorted to pouting. After all, Ace couldn't forget about how Luffy had risked himself to rescue him. Even until now, Ace held a lot of regret for not being able to oversee Luffy's adventures before his death and he definitely wouldn't want to miss out on this chance either.

He realized that he had loved Luffy more than he should and he could tell that Sabo knew about it as well. Luffy, on the other hand, was completely clueless at the topic of romance although he did specifically state that he wanted to stay with Ace for the rest of his life instead of settling down with girls. It gave Ace a boost of confidence and Sabo had reassured Ace that if Luffy wasn't attracted to women in the previous timeline, Luffy wouldn't start liking them in this one too. But in future, Sabo knew that Ace would definitely want something more than they were sharing now and he secretly wished Ace good luck in making Luffy understood it.

But when looking at how Ace blushed madly when Luffy giggled and kissed his cheek, Sabo could tell that maybe it wouldn't be all that difficult after all.

* * *

Due to my curiosity, I just wanted to ask my reviewers this:

What do you guys think of MarcoSanji?

I mean, I wanted to hear about your opinions since I had a feeling that it may not be as... uh... well accepted by readers as I hoped. Dx But it's just a curious question of mine, nothing much. :D

By the way, I found this little thing while browsing through some threads and it immediately made my day.

sphotos- a. ak. fbcdn hphotos- ak- snc6/ 217667_ 320168651427674_ 1964297048_ n. jpg (Remove the spaces)

Keep the flames away, yo! xD


	5. The Reunion Of The Lost

Woo! I'm not very confident with this chapter even though I had given my best for it. Um... if you add up the narrative explanations, this whole chapter takes place NINE years after their last chapter. The reason for that was because Luffy wouldn't wait for their friends to grow up and would want to search for them immediately so I try to avoid making them TOO young.

I hope the reunion thing would be okay even though it might seemed... a little half assed and not what you guys expected! D:

If you ever wanted an edit or another case of scenario, you could bring it up to me and I'll try my best to go around working on it!

**StrawberryGirlKairi: I can understand where you are coming from since most of my friends think of the same way as you do. XD I am more of a fan of crack shipping but of course, I would include reasons for it as well. I hope that the pairing wouldn't bother you too much along the way since it is one of the three main pairings in this fic! Sadly, not everyone of them could turn their fate around perfectly considering that they were still kids when things happened and most of the things were out of their control. Plus, they were on their own and couldn't gain the support from the adults because it was most likely that people would believe them.**

**Maria Rianki: I'm glad that you had decided to give your support to the pairing! You have no idea how happy it made me and yes, Marco is pretty badass!**

**anonymous: Thank you so much and I'll try my best to live up to everyone of your expectations! :D**

**xXChild-Of-DemonXx: D: I know the feeling of having your favourite character dying in your favourite anime! I was practically trying to keep my tears in when Ace died in front of Luffy! -rubs eyes- Thank you and I'm sorry for the shortness of the last chapter! Hopefully, the length of this chapter would be enough to make up for it! XD**

**TheeCritic: There are hints of it on my other fic and I had also written a MarcoxFem!Sanji fic. Although I had to admit that it has a very impromptu plot thus I wasn't very satisfied with it. ;x**

**BeebleTee17: Thank you and I'll do my best in making all of you fall in love with the pairing! I'd be good for me as well if there will be MarcoxSanji fics popping out because of this. :D**

**Death Phoenix: Your review really had made my day and I was re-reading it a few times while feeling really happy! :DD In response to your headcanon, yes, Marco and Sanji were so-called the 'saner' ones among their crew. Not only that, I have my own headcanon for them in the previous timeline which will probably be explained in the next chapter. Compared to Ace, Marco wouldn't be as possessive (Protective, yes) because he had to deal with Sanji's womanizing habits at the same time. However, because Sanji was rejected ninety-nine percent of the time, it also served as a decreasing value in the possessiveness. But that wouldn't mean he would be totally okay with it though xD**

**I wouldn't mind listening to more of your headcanons since they do seemed very intriguing and I'm technically grilling google for any hints of that pairing for my own happiness (-slapped-)! It'd be great if there were fanfics of them popping out too. Dx**

* * *

Seven years later, the three of them had put in their everything to train for their trip. But however, they were made to stay back for a year when Garp had made an unexpected visit. Even in both timelines, Garp was as random in terms of timing as ever. Right now, Sabo and Ace were eighteen while Luffy was fifteen, which sounded like good numbers to start with.

Physically, Luffy would be the one who hadn't grown much during the timeskip (Ace preferred it this way). He looked exactly like how he was when he left Fuchsia Village during the previous timeline. Maybe if he were in the Amazon jungle, it would be easier for him to grow since the monsters and animals here were significantly weak compared to them. Of course, he even practiced the use of Gear Second and Gear Third although Ace immediately made him stop after Luffy told him that before he went for the two-year training, he was told that Gear Second had the risk of shortening his lifespan (Luffy did tell him that the risk was forfeited after the two-year training but Ace still wouldn't have it). It made Ace thought back of the number of times Luffy had used Gear Second during the Battle at Marineford and thought that he'd probably wouldn't take it if he knew of the risk at that time.

Ace had been training vigorously to improve his physical attacks. Granted, he was already plenty strong when he was a child and was probably the strongest out of the three in terms of physical strength. Similarly prior to the previous timeline, Ace's body had grown as muscular which Sabo had accepted which was more show worthy since Ace still refused to put on any top. However the difference was that instead of the ASCE (With the S cancelled out) tattoo, Ace decided to put in the spelling 'ACE' on his upper left bicep. God knows how many times his own crew had teased him for misspelling his own name no matter how many times Ace tried to tell them that it was on purpose. He didn't particularly liked telling other people other than his closer friends (Marco and Thatch) about Sabo since it was still a pretty sore subject for him.

Sabo, on the other hand, had gotten almost as muscular as Ace and instead of practicing on hand-to-hand combat like Ace does, he chose to fought with a bo stick instead. His brainpower was more of an advantage than his strength after all. Before he ran away from home and met Ace, Sabo was also put under strict training in the more classy fighting style of Bojutsu and hence, had already grown more proficient in handling his weapon beforehand. However, he was mostly the strategical one and navigates their journey. His hair had also grew longer and he chose to wear the same kind of outfit as he did when he was a child.

Not only had they grew stronger in terms of strength, their bond had grown a lot more closer compared to before. It was difficult to for Ace and Luffy to be as familiarized with Sabo as compared to each other but it definitely wasn't difficult for their bonds to be equally strong now. Heck, even Ace only allowed Sabo to be overly affectionate with Luffy.

"Sabo-oooo, I'm hungry," Luffy whined as he collapsed onto Sabo's back and rested his arms on his shoulders.

"It hadn't even been two hours since we left the last town," Sabo responded absentmindedly as his eyes scanned through the map that was given by Dadan.

"Oi, Sabo. Do you have any food?" Ace asked and collapsed onto Luffy's back.

"You too?!" Sabo exclaimed.

Maybe he should've thought ahead about traveling with two bottomless pits.

"Let's just see if there is any passing Sea King that we could feed on. Then we will have Ace to start a fire for me to cook," Sabo instructed. At first, he was reluctant seeing how Sea Kings were abnormally strong compared to the common sharks. But when Luffy had taken one down easily (which Ace and Sabo followed in suit), it had became their daily meal.

They were currently sailing in the East Blue and decided to take their time in making a name for themselves. It was what Ace did that attracted Whitebeard's attention anyway and Luffy said it would be more fun if Marines were to chase after them too. Sabo had to try to prevent himself from getting caught in action since he was extra cautious of his family finding out. Even though the three of them had taken out anyone who had gotten in their way, Sabo knew the extent of what his family would take if they happened to want their child back. However, it was impossible to escape the little information that the Marines could hold which made Sabo intentionally leaking his name, 'Sabo Sakazuki'.

Another year had passed and the three of them did make themselves quite a name. It was mostly thanks to Ace since the 'ASL' group's bounty had increased when the higher ups in the Marines forces found out that Ace was the son of the late Pirate King. Ace still didn't like his father being mentioned but he had mellowed down compared to before.

"This is boring," Luffy sulked when there was no Sea King in sight.

"Ace, why don't you keep him company or something?" Sabo suggested as he planned for their next destination. They were on a hunt for Luffy's previous crew members after all and pretty much most of them weren't sticking onto the same spot. "No kissing though," he added.

Ace gave him a sulky look and beckoned Luffy over with his hand. "Come on, Lu. Let's play something."

"Okay!" Luffy perked up and went over to Ace.

"It's difficult to find Luffy's crew since they aren't at a fixed spot. If this doesn't work out, we'd have to wait another year then we would have a definite knowledge of where they would be," Sabo pondered aloud. Although Ace and Luffy would protest to more waiting, they didn't have much of a choice. If only, there was an easier way to this.

Ace sighed as he made some green fireballs for Luffy while instructing him not to touch them. "And Luffy insisted to find Sanji first."

"Sanji is an awesome cook!" Luffy defended as his attention was mostly taken away by the moving 'fireflies'.

"Of course," Sabo muttered and folded the map. "It's getting pretty dark now so we could start looking more seriously for dinner. Even if there aren't any Sea King, we could deal with the smaller fry for the time being. If you want one so badly, we might be able to get more in Grand Line if they tried to attack us."

For some reason, their dinner was strangely scarce today as there weren't any Sea King or bigger fishes in sight. Sabo could deal with it but he had two bottomless pits in his hands who would probably complain when midnight comes. It was indeed a strange occurrence since the sea obviously wouldn't run out of fishes or sea animals but everything seemed different today. Sabo really hoped that it wasn't anything like a bad omen.

Suddenly, a huge shadow in the water had caught Luffy's attention which caught Ace's and Sabo's afterwards. Maybe it was something like a huge dinner? No. Sabo knew that no sea animals would have that sort of shape and Ace had never came across anything like it before. The only one who would believe that it was an animal would probably be Luffy. But from his days in the sea, Ace could tell what the shadow was.

"It's a ship. And a huge one," Ace informed.

"Could it be an enemy's ship?" Sabo pondered aloud as he made a grab for his bow staff.

Soon, the ship finally emerged from the water, causing their smaller boat to ride restlessly on the waves that it caused.

While Sabo was preparing a plan to defend against it, he noticed that Ace's expression had grown weirder. His eyes widened slightly as his mouth was slightly agape at what he was looking at. Even Luffy took a few seconds before he realized why Ace was giving such a weird look. It was when a familiar figure had emerged from the boat and /flown/ down to them with blazing blue fire wings for arms, their suspicion was confirmed.

The ship before them was none other than the Moby Dick.

"Finally found you, yoi."

"M-Marco?" Ace stuttered in surprise.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not the one who died, yoi."

Sabo raised an eyebrow as Ace's death was mentioned once again. Ace never did tell him about it and didn't let Luffy say anything about it for some reason. Since they were well acquainted, Sabo could tell that this person must be one of the people from his brothers' past. He looked a bit weird, if Sabo had to judge on appearance. Marco… Ace had mentioned about him before at some point of time. He must be the First Commander in the ship that Ace was in and one of the closer people to him. So the ship before them must be the one which Ace had wanted to search for.

"Don't mention about that," Ace muttered, still not ready for Sabo to know everything about it yet. "Wait, you remember?"

"Yeah but I'm not the only one. Other than me, pops is the only one who remembered everything and that was why we were searching for you. We're all lucky that you are so famous or else we'd have a more difficult time, yoi."

Ace had never felt happier in his life.

"Pineapple head!" Luffy called out cheerfully.

"It's Marco, yoi!" Marco snapped and glared at Ace who was about to burst into laughter. "Speaking of you, Ace's little brother, there's also something for you, yoi."

He motioned back to where the Moby Dick was and instructed the three of them to continue looking. There was another smaller rumble this time as the side of the Moby Dick opened (Ace never knew they had this sort of function) and there was a brig sloop type of ship with a figurehead of a lion being retracted from the larger Moby Dick ship. When it stopped, the whole ship lighted up and the lights were connected in a way that the words, 'Strawhat Pirates' could be seen from the bottom of the mast. On the deck, six figures and one extremely small one could be seen lined up vertically with one of each of their arms raised in the air.

Luffy's eyes watered and finally burst into tears as his whole body practically glowed bright in delight.

"H-Hey, he is crying more than Sanji did," the small figure commented.

"Luffy! You're going to overflow the boat if you continue!" Sabo cried out.

"You are way too happy," Ace muttered as he tried to shield his eyes from the binding light.

"Z-Zoro, N-Nami, U-U-Usopp, Chopper, R-Robin, F-Franky, B-Brook," Luffy stuttered emotionally. "Thousand Sunny! I love you guys so much!"

The whole crew on the ship grinned as they gave him a thumbs up. After having not seen each other for years, the Strawhat Pirates had been waiting as much as Luffy did for the day to come whereby they would be reunited again. Even as they had to go through their own childhood journey, their mind had never taken off the prospect of traveling with one another once again. No matter what changes in their lives had taken place, they were still passionate in being the Strawhat Pirates in this timeline and aid Luffy in whatever he wanted to do. They hadn't exactly paid their debts in the previous timeline but they would be forever paying it if they had a choice.

"By the way, where is Sanji?" Luffy asked after having stopped crying immediately.

"That was fast," Sabo muttered.

"Sanji is waiting for all of us at the Baratie, yoi. We have already met up with him and he said that the owner of the Baratie wanted to give all of us a huge treat. We already have the coordinates down and the restaurant won't be moving until we get there, yoi," Marco informed.

Ace shook his head. "That was really quite a surprise."

"We can't win against Luffy's crew, yoi."

"You guys have great friends," Sabo commented with a short laugh.

"Finally, food!" Luffy cried out in joy.

* * *

When Luffy, Ace and Sabo finally got onto the Moby Dick, they were greeted by Whitebeard and the rest of the crew immediately.

Of course, the three of them had a lot of questions in their head regarding the situation and felt that it would be better to clear everything up before they started to sail for the Grand Line. He was surprised to find his own crew coming up Moby Dick's deck when they were originally at the Thousand Sunny just a few seconds ago.

It was when Franky started explaining.

"When I got my memories back, I immediately planned for some time to rebuild our Thousand Sunny. And after I did, I started to pick up the guys in the Grand Line and met Whitebeard on the way to East Blue. I didn't think that Robin and the others would get their memories back as well so I was initially troubled over having to convince them to join us. But I am glad that things turned out this way anyway," Franky explained.

"What happened to Nami and Usopp's homes? And the rest too," Luffy asked.

"Heh. Franky and the others had explained to Whitebeard about everything and just by showing up, Captain Kuro was too scared to do anything. After that, he was turned into the Marines by one of their guys," Usopp explained.

"It's the same for Arlong. Although I couldn't prevent Bellemere's death because I was too small and powerless to do anything," Nami cut herself off briefly with a sad look on her face. "But at least everything turned out for the better now."

"I managed to prevent my own fate as much as I could," Robin stated with a small smile and refused to explain further.

"Doctor didn't survive because his illness was incurable but I was able to prolong it by not repeating the same mistake as I did before…" Chopper trailed off.

It seemed as though even when they were brought back to their timeline, some things were just inevitable. Not only that Nami was powerless, her small age wouldn't have anyone believing her even if she tried her best to explain everything. Besides, because the Marines and Arlong were working together, there was no way that the townspeople would've been prepared to fight them combined anyway. No matter how much Nami searched, she just couldn't find a loophole to her problems.

"I see…" Luffy mumbled.

"Don't worry about us," Nami reassured.

"I've been meaning to ask but… what are you guys?" Sabo asked while pointing from Brook to Franky.

"Me? I'm a cyborg!" Franky replied and did his signature pose.

Brook pointed at himself and laughed. "Yohohoho! I'm a skeleton and gentleman."

"Are you even alive?" Ace asked incredulously.

"Of course I am! My heart is beating in excitement like the rest of you. Ah, I don't have a heart though."

Ace sighed and looked at Luffy. "I bet I know who was the one who specifically invited you into the crew."

"Eh?" Luffy asked as he pointed at himself. "Well, Brook is pretty funny and interesting, isn't he?"

"Don't even try and understand that. Luffy had been trying to recruit strange things into our crew. He even tried asking a talking tree to join us," Zoro informed in a deadpanned tone, making Sabo facepalm and Ace shaking his head at their own brother.

"I think it's fine, isn't it?" Luffy said simply. "And there has been something I've been wanting to ask the old man ever since I met him."

Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at Luffy and motioned him to go ahead.

Luffy looked at him seriously before he opened his mouth. "How big is your poop?"

"LUFFY!" Ace, Sabo and the rest of the crew members shouted in unison while the Whitebeard's crew stared at him with their mouth hung opened.

"Gurararara! What an interesting fellow. If you really want to-"

"Pops!" Marco and Ace shouted this time.

Nami and Usopp were lecturing Luffy about being tactful and scolded him for disrespecting Whitebeard. But it was mostly because that the question that Luffy had asked was disgusting and should never had left his lips at all. Of course, after a few punches landed on Luffy's head, he finally apologized (although he didn't seemed sincere because he still wanted to know the answer to his question) while Whitebead reassured his crew that he didn't intend to answer it while wearing an amused look. Luffy was definitely a one of a kind and he couldn't help but humor the boy a bit. It was a short time but Whitebeard had taken a liking to Ace's brothers and Luffy's crew easily.

Franky quickly cleared his throat and looked at Luffy.

"I think there is something else that would impress you," Franky chirped in and went into his signature pose again. "Not only had I rebuilt Thousand Sunny the way it was, I had also managed to construct it so that it could sail along the Moby Dick while also able to store within it. Of course, we received permission for that. Look down there," he instructed and the three brothers did as they were told.

There were three rectangular blocks that were connected from the front, middle and the back of the Thousand Sunny to the respective positions of the Moby Dick as well for a better secure in any case if they were to run into a storm. This way, they wouldn't get separated.

"The thing is that the Moby Dick and Thousand Sunny would, in a way, help each other out to achieve perfection. When Thousand Sunny retracts back into the Moby Dick, we could have the stronger ship to dive underwater for convenience. Plus, in the rectangular shaped block in the middle serves as a connecting platform for both crews. At the end of the platform, there will be a ladder which leads up here and a door which will lead to a bigger storage of more barrels of cola. There is another exciting function but I'll activate later on for you to see."

"Awesome!" Luffy exclaimed while his eyes brightened up.

"But no matter how you look at it, there is a lot of difference between the atmosphere around Luffy's ship and this ship," Sabo remarked.

"What happened to your old ship?" Ace asked, briefly remembered that it was a lot more smaller and normal looking.

"You mean the Going Merry? It was destroyed and was beyond repairable in the previous life so we had gotten the Going Merry's figurehead from Kaya instead. Basically, we did like what we did before and turned it into one of our smaller vehicles: the Mini Merry II," Usopp said proudly.

Franky laughed and folded his arms. "Don't worry, there are a lot more upgrades I had done to the Thousand Sunny. But for some reason, the guys here seemed to call me…"

"Franky-sama!" Whitebeard's men called out in unison, also wanting the luxurious looking functions in the Thousand Sunny in the Moby Dick too.

"They must be too impressed," Chopper commented.

"Gurararara! I'm glad to have my son back, eh," Whitebeard said with a grin. "Although only Marco and I remembered everything, these guys are willing to put their faith in you. So how about it Ace? Would you sail across the sea under my name and become our Second Commander again?"

"That goes without saying, pops!"

There was a loud cheer within the crew while everyone simply looked while sharing the happiness around. Everyone was back together again and there was definitely a lot to catch up on. Sabo was glad that his brothers managed to find such a loyal and impressive crew. They seemed pretty friendly and had no problem welcoming Sabo as one of their own. He was pretty much reassured that things would get even better from now that both of the crew had decided to work together.

"Without further ado, I shall activate another function of our unison: the Sunny Moby! Usopp!" Franky called out.

Usopp understood immediately and the both of them rushed to the Thousand Sunny while everyone looked in interest. The side of the Moby Dick opened once again and the Thousand Sunny was retracted back into the huge ship. Meanwhile, the portion at the back of the Moby Dick opened while half of the base of the Moby Dick was replaced by the base of the Thousand Sunny. In addition, the base of the Thousand Sunny released an extendable base and attached itself onto the first half of Moby Dick's base.

"Ready? Don't turn your eyes off this, everyone!" Franky called out from the bottom of their ship. "Here is my upgrade for all of you: Twin Coup de Burst!"

A large canon extended from the Thousand Sunny and fired downwards which rocketed the whole ship into the air.

"Awesome! It felt exactly like before!" Luffy shouted in the air while laughing joyously.

"This is really incredible," Sabo commented while holding onto the railing.

"Luffy had really got himself an impressive mechanic," Ace agreed and sat on the edge instead.

Whitebeard's men cheered together in unison while Whitebeard only looked on with a large grin on his face. The Strawhat Pirates had officially became part of his allies and his family within a short amount of time. It was partly thanks to Marco, who was standing beside Whitebeard, who had convinced Whitebeard to put his trust in Luffy's crew. After all, he had reassured Whitebeard that they were nothing of disappointment and everyone were outstanding people with their own capabilities. The true pirates who would come up on top in the new generation. Even Whitebeard could tell each of their potential and experience with just a single glance.

Finally, the Moby Dick and Thousand Sunny landed right in front of a familiar restaurant with a sign 'Baratie' on top of it.

At the entrance, Sanji took out his cigarette and blew out the smoke.

"You guys are late," he commented with a grin on his face.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

"Ne, you can do it, can't you?" Luffy pestered as he kept on tugging onto Marco's sleeve. "I saw how Sanji stood on your back when you were a bird and it was pretty awesome!"

"It was a phoenix, yoi," Marco corrected. "And I normally don't let anyone ride on my back because it's awkward, yoi." Not to mention, quite degrading as well although the result of their combination was very satisfactory.

"But I want to ride you!" Luffy whined.

Marco's eyes widened at the implication (though he knew that Luffy didn't mean THAT way) but soon, he glanced uneasily behind him. Ace was standing right there with his eyes glaring daggers at his back while the flames were roaring threateningly in the background. Sabo almost fell over when Luffy, once again, didn't bother to word his sentence properly and had to try to calm Ace down. They could practically hear him muttering about his 'precious little brother' and the soon to be 'grilled turkey'.

"I don't think that it's such a good idea, yoi..."

"I don't care! I just want to ride you! I want to ride Marco!"

If possible, the flames grew even larger and hotter as Ace was about to break free from Sabo who was stopping him with his bo staff.

"Fine! I'll carry you on my back, yoi! Just stop talking like that!"

Luffy let out a cheer as Marco sighed in relief when Ace's flames died down when he realized what Luffy had truly meant. But this didn't mean that it was the end of Marco's plight when Ace suddenly grabbed on to his other sleeve.

"Hey! Let me ride you too!" Ace complained.

Marco groaned and swore that he would get someone to teach these idiotic brothers proper phrases.

* * *

Yes! As a tribute to the timeskip, I'll be adding a 'One Piece Special' at the end of every chapter (Unless I happen to run out of ideas XD).

If there is any questions you would like to ask regarding the whole thing between Whitebeard and the Strawhat Pirates, feel free to do so and I'll add them in the other chapter!


	6. The Night Party!

So I've always had this headcanon that Whitebeard and Zeff would know each other in the past since there weren't many pirates around at that time. Since Zeff was a pirate chef, I could imagine him setting up a a smaller restaurant in his ship since he is a chef and Whitebeard was one of his favourite customers since he would actually pay unlike the more rowdy pirates at that time.

Thatch will come in later chapters!

**Son Goshen: Nah, it isn't my style to repeat what had happened in the anime. Plus, after know each other's past, the ones who could solve theirs faster wouldn't sit around and do nothing xD**

**Katasana: Hehe! I'm glad that you liked it! And no for the last chapter since there are many questions to be answered and they needed time to settle everything. But Sabo will interact more with them from this chapter onwards.**

**anonymous: I can really imagine Luffy answering something like that and Whitebeard humoring him (Luffy is just too cute xD)! Your question will be answered around the end of this chapter. ;3**

**Death Phoenix: Of course! And similarly, Mihawk VS Zoro wouldn't happen in how it did in the anime naturally. But they will definitely meet.**

**Whenever I read your review of headcanons, I can't help but feel really happy. 8D There isn't much people who would think of shipping MarcoSanji although it seemed kind of acceptable among other people. I'm really glad that you started shipping this pairing too and I'm finally not alone! YAY! I am feeling tempted to send you a PM so that we can talk all about MarcoSanji as much as we want but I wouldn't want to annoy you. LOL!**

**As for your headcanon, yeah. Marco would understand that it's Sanji's habits to appreciate women's beauty to this extent and would find it more unacceptable for a male to come up to Sanji and would be more alert. Sanji does know for himself that if he fell in love with a man, he'd be the only one Sanji would accept. XD**

**I updated the Gender Change! fic btw :D**

**azab: Thank you very much and I'm glad that you enjoyed it!**

* * *

Without further ado, the party had begun and the chefs became a hell lot busier.

To accommodate for the number of people, they also set up tables and chairs on the deck of the Moby Dick and Thousand Sunny despite some of their insistence that they could eat on the ground. However, the chefs and Sanji wouldn't have it that way since it wasn't proper etiquette and they wanted to serve in their best abilities. Most of the food had already been prepared beforehand and the chefs were warned that there were at least two bottomless pits on the ship so that they could get ready for more large servings of food. The ingredients, of course, were specially ordered beforehand and they had to set aside a lot of things to make it possible.

Zeff, the head of the ship, had hopped onto Moby Dick to greet his old friend with a large bulk of good wine. It seemed that Whitebeard used to be one of his favorite customers mostly because the guy actually paid and had never tried to run away. Both of them had their own reputations and had sparred in the past before. Likewise, they had their own code of honor regarding different things and it was also what made them respect one another.

Sabo, the Strawhat Pirates and the Commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates were a few of the many people who were sitting inside the Baratie.

"So that's why you changed your name to Sakazuki Sabo," Usopp said after Sabo explained everything that had happened since the two brothers were too busy stuffing their mouths. "That's kind of cool. We only heard from Luffy a few times that he had a third brother."

"I can somehow tell that he wouldn't be the nostalgic type," Sabo reassured and took sip of wine off his glass. "I heard that all of you had it pretty tough, huh. I'm sorry that my little brother had caused you trouble and I hope that you wouldn't mind continue taking care of him."

_Another polite brother! _The crew thought. "The pleasure is all ours," they said in unison.

"Luffy did say that you're the nicer brother compared to Ace," Usopp commented.

Sabo raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Oh, did he? Ace had gotten his memories back before Luffy started to join us so I wasn't sure how exactly he was like towards Luffy in the 'other past'. But judging from his character, I could briefly tell."

"How nice. I wish I have a brother like you and Ace," Chopper said.

Sabo honestly didn't know how it would be like to have a reindeer as a brother but he wasn't the type to choose based on an individual's identity. "Sure, why not? I'm confident that it would be more easier to take care of you and you're much more cuter than Luffy anyway." At least, Luffy didn't seemed cute now because he was currently stuffing food after food into his opened mouth. But Sabo and Ace knew how adorable Luffy could get most of the time. He even had both of them wrapped around his fingers.

"Compliments won't work on me, you bastard. I'm not happy at being praised by humans," Chopper sang as he started to sway himself back and forth happily.

"You seemed pretty happy to me."

"Tis ish wealy 'ooh (This is really good)," Luffy complimented as he stuffed large quantities of food into his mouth.

"Yes, I agree. Sanji always make good food for all of us," Brook agreed.

"You can actually understood what he said?" Sabo asked but couldn't help but agree that the quality of food even exceeds what Nobles eat daily. It was either that the Nobles would try and assassinate Sanji to prevent commoners for eating higher quality food than them or make him work as a chef at their homes. "Really, Luffy. You have such a small crew but all of them could make up for a thousand men," Sabo remarked and laughed.

Luffy grinned and spouted more gibberish as he continued eating.

"Learn your manners," Nami grumbled and smacked Luffy over the head.

"Oi, Luffy. Don't show such manners in front of the ladies," Sanji ordered and place two more bigger plates of food on the table. "I swear if you ended up overeating us, I'll never get to hear the end of it from that shitty old man."

"Don't worry about it and keep on cooking, Sanji! This is great!" Luffy exclaimed after swallowing a huge lump of food down his throat.

Sanji's right eyebrow twitched and sighed. "You are such a slave driver, Captain," he muttered sarcastically before turning to Marco and pointed at Ace with his thumb. "And could you wake him up? I feel uncomfortable having my customers sleeping on food."

"Sorry about that, yoi," Marco apologized and started shaking Ace while Sanji retreated back into the kitchen.

"Damn… I fell asleep again-Hey! Where did my plate of meat go?"

"Luffy took it while you were sleeping," Robin informed.

Ace turned towards Luffy who gave him a sheepish grin and gave him a playful smirk of his own. He grabbed Luffy by the waist and kissed him on the lips, causing most of the people around their table (Which consisted of the Strawhat Pirates and Marco) to raise their eyebrow in surprise while Sabo face-palmed across the table. While Luffy was distracted, Ace quickly broke the kiss, took his meat and stuffed it into his own mouth. Luffy realized what Ace had done and immediately complained. He took his revenge by taking the leftovers on Ace's plate, making Ace to take Luffy's own food in return too.

"You two are just eating off from each other!" Usopp cried out.

"They became lovers?" Zoro asked Sabo while motioning to the two brothers.

Sabo shook his head and waved his hand lazily. "Nothing of the sort. Ace likes Luffy but Luffy is oblivious towards it and that's why Ace didn't want to confess until Luffy grows older physically. But I don't think that Ace would be able to wait that long anyway."

"It sounds like we have an interesting matter in our hands," Robin spoke with a smile.

"Eh? We're going to get involved?" Chopper asked in surprise.

"Nah, I'm too lazy to bother," Zoro said offhandedly with a wave of his hand.

"It does sound pretty exciting," Nami agreed afterwards while holding a playful grin at the fighting brothers. "Luffy and his brother, huh. I definitely didn't see it coming but it shouldn't be much of a problem. At least, Ace wouldn't be."

Robin chuckled and agreed. "It looks like we would have two of the same issue in our hands," she mused while staring intently at Marco.

Zoro seemed to know about it because his next remark was, "Staring at the door won't make love-cook come out sooner."

Marco turned his head and regarded them with his usual bored looking stare. It impressed Robin that he could continue being completely calm and composed for someone who had been caught in their act. "It's nothing like that, yoi," he reassured or at least, tried to convince the duos who had somehow knew.

"Eh? Eh? What is happening?" Chopper asked while looking in-between them frantically.

"The food on the table is about to run out and we need Sanji to bring some more," Robin covered up.

"Yes, right away, Robin-chwan." Sanji suddenly popped up beside Robin and placed a few more extra dishes on the table. "Oi! Don't take all the food or else Robin-chan and Nami-san won't be able to have enough," Sanji snapped at the two brothers who had immediately dove of it before the bottom of the plates had even touched the tables.

"This issue seemed to be bigger than the other, it may seem," Robin teased while looking at Marco from the corner of her eyes.

Sanji looked in-between them in confusion. "What issue?" he asked before Sanji let out a gasp. "Don't tell me that you," he paused dramatically as he pointed a finger at Marco, "did something unforgivable to Robin-chwan! If you do then I will never forgive you for it!"

Marco looked at Sanji with a gaze that said, 'What the heck are you talking about, yoi?'.

Robin chuckled and patted Sanji's shoulder reassuringly. "I assure you that it has nothing got to do with myself or Nami."

"Oh, that's fine then." Sanji's grin reappeared on his face, making Zoro roll his eyes at his obliviousness.

"Stupid."

"What was that, marimo?" Sanji asked threateningly.

Meanwhile, Luffy was complaining about Ace taking away his favorite food and was trying to reach for it when Ace held it above his head. The rest of the crew chose to ignore their antics this time and continued eating while Sabo had started chatting with Nami regarding navigations and maps. Robin had taken up a more playful side and was quietly observing the brothers along with Marco. Unlike Marco, it was easy for Ace to lose his composure if Robin were to hint to Luffy something about his feelings towards him. But Robin would spare Ace the embarrassment since she wasn't entirely into teasing.

Luffy pouted when Ace had refused to give up the meat and settled back onto his chair to sulk. Ace grinned down at Luffy and bent down behind his brother before holding the crabmeat in front of his face to tempt him. Luffy stared at the food for a moment before diving his head forward to eat it but didn't manage to get it on time when Ace had moved it away from him, causing Luffy to complain again.

"Kiss me on the lips and I'll give it to you," Ace teased.

"Ace-!" Sabo started before shaking his head. "Never mind. You can do whatever you want," he said in exasperation after having finally given up on trying to save Ace the embarrassment from doing such a thing in public. It wasn't that Ace would mind in the first place anyway.

"Stupid Ace," Luffy whined before obliging to the request by pressing his lips against Ace's lips again.

Ace was elated and gave Luffy back the crabmeat as he promised, making Luffy brighten up again and munching onto his prized possession. Ace gave a low chuckle and kissed Luffy on the forehead before returning back to his seat. Not even five minutes passed, Ace and Luffy were back to their food grabbing contest while Nami and Robin had already stopped eating and focused their attention on somewhere else.

"Here you go," Sanji said, snapping Marco out of his thoughts when he placed a plate of dessert in front of him. "A new recipe but I'm only letting you have it. Count it as a return payment for this morning. You better eat it quickly before Luffy finds out and makes a grab for it."

Marco did as Sanji advised and regarded him with a calm stare although Robin could see some hidden emotions in it. "You don't have to go through the trouble, yoi."

"It's no trouble," Sanji reassured. "So how was it?"

"Pretty good as always."

"Glad to hear it," he replied with a grin. Sanji always liked it when customers complimented on his cooking.

Brook finally set down his fork and knife onto the table in satisfaction. He took out his bottle of tea and poured one into one of his favorite cups. "Your cooking is always fantastic, Sanji. Today's meal was the best," Brook complimented. "Ah, please excuse me."

A fart and a burp soon followed after.

"You bastard!" Sanji cursed as he slammed his foot against the side of Brook's head and muttered something about table manners.

"Oh, how harsh!" Brook cried out when a bump grew on his head.

* * *

Meanwhile, Whitebeard and Zeff were having a chat about the old times while drinking seclusion. The other crew members on the ship were taking up two out of third of the deck which leaves one free for the both of them (Whitebeard was the one that needed most of the space anyway).

They most talk about the past, as usual while there were also questions regarding the 'past timeline' since Zeff had revealed that he knew most about it from Sanji. If the things that happened in the past did happen, it would most likely happen again seeing how a certain someone was still part of the crew. He was a little taken aback when Sanji told him how Whitebeard died and had his devil fruit abilities taken away after that (it was at least what Sanji knew). It was an unfortunate turnabout but Zeff did agree that the time for the younger generation to takeover would come soon eventually.

Boy, did they ever feel old.

"So you're not going to get rid of that shitty brat?" Zeff asked.

"Nah. He did nothing in the present and I wouldn't kill anyone with a guiltless conscience. I worry about Ace's reaction though and that was why I kept him on one of my other ships until I can properly explain to Ace before bringing him back for surveillance."

"Soft as always, eh."

"I can say the same for you. You weren't the man for mercy as I remembered correctly.

"You mean Sanji, that rude and obnoxious brat?" Zeff asked before letting out a scoff. Truthfully, he still didn't know why he had chosen to save him other than their dreams. "I just find that he has talent to be part of my crew and nothing more," he lied.

Whitebeard let out a laugh. "Gurararara! You say that but your eyes speak differently. Having a family is good, isn't it?"

"I can't deny that. You are pretty close with your own crew too."

"They are my sons, Zeff. I can't be anyone else other than their pops."

"Right. I was surprised when one of your sons showed up and beat up that marine officer who Sanji was fighting with." At Whitebeard's curious gaze, Zeff raised an eyebrow. "He never told you? Oh well, he didn't strike me as the type who would anyway. Marco the Phoenix, wasn't it? A pretty strong fella you have there but I have yet to see his full potential yet. I think he went easy on that poor guy," he said with a laughter.

_Flashback_

_"Oh? Do you think that I'll let you leave the restaurant alive after knowing that you have plans on closing it down?" Sanji asked and blew out smoke after taking the cigarette off his mouth and stepped on it. "I'll just let you know this: you will /never/ be able to close this restaurant down."_

_"What are you? A fortune teller now? Or maybe you're just too full of yourself," Fullbody retorted._

_"I don't have to be one to know that a bug would never close down this restaurant."_

_Fullbody's eyebrow twitched in irritation as the people around the table gasped at the insult thrown at the guy. Fullbody, of course, refused to take this humiliation and decided to take Sanji down instead. While he was throwing punches, Sanji easily dodged all of them which further added on to the humiliation. He tightened his knuckles while glaring at Sanji with hatred before charging forward and pulled him arm back until…_

_"Fighting a chef in his own turf isn't smart, yoi."_

_Fullbody blinked when his arm was suddenly held back and he stopped a few inches away from Sanji. The blonde chef tilted his head to the side to find out who was the one (Although, he could mostly tell from his speech pattern) and grinned._

_"Yo, Marco. Just let him go since I can deal with this small fly myself."_

_"It would be easier if a pirate were to fight this, wouldn't it? After all, the other chefs didn't seem to happy about you kicking this guy out."_

_Soon, the people around started to mutter to each other. Apparently, Marco was already long famous even before Sanji had started off being a chef in the Baratie. One of the most common names he heard from the marines were 'Whitebeard', 'Moby Dick' and 'Marco the Phoenix'. Judging by how Marco already knew he was a chef, he must've gotten his memories from the 'past timeline' just like how Sanji did. Fullbody was stunned for a second there at the mention of one of the top pirates in the world before his regained his confidence as a marine. Brave but pretty stupid, Sanji had to admit._

_"Don't even try taking pity on me. I'm not scared of some pirates," he spat and turned around to use his other fist to attempt knocking him out._

_Of course, Marco stopped it with ease and even beaten him up when the marine officer continued to fight him. He would've let it go if Fullbody were to retreat but sadly, the marine was too prideful to do so and chose a more painful way to knock sense into his head. Marco didn't exactly give him any sympathy at having being embarrassed since Fullbody was a marine and pretty much tried to abuse his rank because he just wanted to cover up for himself. _

_"I need to talk to you about something, yoi,"_ _Marco informed after tossing Fullbody into the sea for his crew to pick him up._

_"I guessed as much. Follow me," Sanji said and beckoned Marco into the highest level of the Baratie while leaving the customers and chefs in awe._

"Why didn't you interfere?" Whitebeard asked in curiosity.

"If I did, I would've kicked all three of those brats," he replied. "But I'm surprised that you allowed that," Zeff said while motioning to the rectangular shaped platforms connecting the Moby Dick and Thousand Sunny.

"Why not? Strawhat's crew is full of talents and anyone who is a family of Ace's is our family too. Besides, Strawhat is an exception because he is just special in many ways," he answered while recalling Luffy's battles in the Marineford. There wasn't many who could use that particular type of Haki and Luffy's determination was really one of a kind. Maybe in a way, Whitebeard felt like protecting Luffy, the son of Monkey D. Dragon, as much as he had been protecting Ace.

"Softer than before, eh," Zeff remarked.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

During the previous timeline...

When the Whitebeard Pirates had caught up with the Strawhat Pirates, Marco had proposed a match between one of the team members for him to judge if they were worthy enough to protect Luffy. Naturally, they would've Zoro fighting him seeing how the both of them were the First Mate to their respective captain and ex-captain but he had gotten lost somewhere on the island again. That was why Sanji volunteered, saying that he would've a better chance of wiping the floor instead.

As the battle progressed, Marco could tell how Sanji was powerful in his own way despite losing out on the tremendous experience Marco had. One of the advantages Sanji had that most people didn't was that he could WALK in midair, having a faster speed and higher maneuverability than people who used Geppo. However, his disadvantages was that his Diable Jamble used the element of fire, the same one which Marco could easily regenerates with. But it was impressive since Sanji wasn't a devil fruit user at all.

"Tired already, yoi?" Marco asked.

"You wish."

"Let's take this up to a higher level then," he said and transformed fully into his phoenix form. Although most of his attacks were in hybrid, he could easily finish off his opponents with his talons.

"It looks delicious!" Luffy shouted as he started to drool.

Sanji raised an eyebrow and smirked. "It's a good thing that you transformed into that. As a chef, I will never let myself lose to an ingredient," he said before hollering. "Looks like we're going to have grilled chicken with butter and garlic for lunch!"

"I'm not food, yoi!" Marco's voice echoed in the air. Suddenly, he felt a pair of rubber arms wrapping around his neck and blinked. "What are you-?" he didn't get the chance to finish his question when he was suddenly pulled onto the ground.

"Food, food, food!" Luffy cheered.

If he weren't distracted and swore not to hurt Ace's brother, he would've gotten away with this easily by fighting instead. In the end, he turned back into his human form when Luffy refused to let go of him and sighed.

"It's going to be lunchtime now. Why don't we continue our battle later on?" Sanji asked while giving him one of his grins. "I'll cook for you and your crew too. How does that sound?"

Marco, who strangely couldn't pull his eyes away from the blonde, simply muttered a, "Fine, yoi."


	7. The Unexpected Turn

And here is the next chapter! I'm thinking of posting another fic which would be completely different from my other stories. First, it will be sort of angst but will contain some humor as well (I just can't do an all out angst fic no matter how hard I try, it seems). Plus, it'd be AU too. I'll probably post the first chapter of it soon and hopefully, it'll somehow work out. -mindblown-

**Neko-VongolaPrimo: Yaaaay! I'm happy that I managed to make another person like the pairing! Crack pairings had always been my favourite and it felt kind of lonely when I'm the only one shipping it. xD I have some headcanons for the both of them but maybe I'd put them in as I update. I can add Skypeia in since it was one of my favourite islands arc. :D **

**azab: Hmmm, possibly but I just can't imagine Sanji losing for some reason. LOL! Law wouldn't be appearing that soon until the later chapters. Because I have something special in stall for Sabo too!**

**cielovalkarie: Yes, I am aware of that but I've always thought that Ace would get teased for the misspelling even though he tried to explain that it was on purpose xD**

**anonymous: Yes, they will mostly be travelling together although of course, they wouldn't explore an island together as a whole. LOL! (Too many people in there).**

**Maria Rianki: I enjoyed writing that scene since it was kind of humorous. But Marco would probably point a gun at my head if I continue talking about it. -sweatdrops-**

**Death Phoenix: Yeah. I had always preferred the slow pace when it comes to romance but it'd probably annoy you guys (and possibly myself) if I continue to drag on any longer. OTL In fact, I don't even know what would be considered slow or fast paced but I'd just go along with my own pace anyway xD One thing is for sure that Marco and Sanji might take a little longer than anyone else.**

**Hmmm, I hadn't thought much of other pairings than the one listed but I'd have to say that I would prefer Mihawk and Shanks more. For some reason, I couldn't find myself pairing Zoro with anyone else and I preferred Mihawk to be more of a fatherly figure to him anyway. -sweats-**

**It's alright! I PM-ed you anyway and I don't mind waiting xD**

**sakura240: Aww, it's alright! I'm glad and happy that you reviewed this one! Hmmm, I'm tempted to have Vivi added into the mix but I have my other thoughts about it as well. Even so, I plan to have the alliance crew to play a part in the Alabasta arc since there is no way they would ever forget about Vivi. :D**

* * *

As the night went on and more booze were handed out, more people were getting crazily drunk.

It was lucky that most of them wouldn't get violent (at least, not towards the restaurant itself but at each other) while some simply passed out at the smallest sip. The more noticeable ones who remained sober and standing were Zoro, Nami (The both of them always had abnormally high alcohol tolerance), Sanji (he was too busy in the kitchen to be drinking), Marco (his devil fruit powers ability helped him recover) and of course, the two geezers on the Moby Dick. Of course, there were also some within the party who refused to drink but they were forced by their friends to do so anyway. Luffy hadn't drank enough to get himself drunk yet as he was also eating at the same time.

When Ace was drunk, he tend to fall prey to his narcolepsy more frequently than before. Thank god Marco had moved the plates of food out of his way whenever his head was about to fall on them. Luffy, on the other hand, was having fun with Usopp and sadly, no one in the crew could stop them or couldn't be bothered too. Zoro and Nami were having a drinking contest for an hour over a bet of a few zeros of beli and none of them showed signs of giving up. Robin had only agreed to drink only a cup and was still sober, obviously. Brook… no one in the world knew how a skeleton could get drunk when they don't have a liver. Meanwhile, Sabo had retreated to the bathroom.

"This is a lively party, isn't it?" Robin commented as a few Whitebeard Pirates sung their lungs away.

"I wish I was drunk, yoi," Marco said honestly. The off-tune singing was starting to kill his ears.

Robin chuckled, acting as though she wasn't affected by it at all. "Perhaps. But it may the cook a little later if there was some who were still sober," she said while looking at Luffy and Usopp who had gotten to playing with their food. "Looks like Sanji is not going to be happy at all."

"I can imagine." Although Marco probably wouldn't be able to imagine how mad Sanji would get.

"Look, Usopp!" Luffy called out as he put the fishballs on his eyes and puckered his lips. "I'm a fish!"

Usopp laughed along and placed his creation forward… technically, he used the leftover food to build some sort of weird construction. "Alright! This is my newest creatioooonnn. It can uuuuuh… do awesome things," he slurred while his eyes were half lidded in a drunken state.

"You guys… come here for a second," Sanji's dangerous and chilly voice spoke behind from all of them.

Soon, Luffy and Usopp were beaten down into short sizes with numerous bumps on their faces, swollen lips and broken teeth.

"Get it? I'm going to forgive you guys now so leave the food alone unless you're going to eat it," Sanji instructed while lighting up another stick of cigarette.

"Y-Yes. I'm bewwy sowwie."

_No mercy at all, yoi. _Marco thought.

"I fell asleep again… damn…" Ace mumbled as he finally lifted his head off the table, catching the attention Marco, Sanji and Robin. "Heeey, Luuuu. It's time to go to bed. Big brother is getting sleepy now. Huuuuh? Where is my Lu? Who the hell took my Lu away?" he demanded.

"I'm hewe," Luffy called out as he raised his hand.

Ace blinked at him before bursting out into laughter. "What's thaaaat. You look hilarious. Oh well, Lu is still my Lu," he murmured and pulled Luffy into his arms. "There, do you feel better now?" he asked while ruffling Luffy's hair.

"All of them are drunk?" Sanji asked.

"Unfortunately," Marco confirmed.

Luffy, somehow having recovered from the bumps, returned Ace's hug while the older of the two continued to pet his head while murmuring nonsense in his half drunken state. Luffy had realized for a long time now that Ace had gotten more affectionate towards him compared to the 'past timeline' altogether but always dismissed it when the thought arises, thinking that as long as there wasn't any trouble, he wouldn't mind getting all these attention. It was funny seeing how he was the one who was seeking for Ace's attention throughout his life during his first life but now, the roles seemed to have switched. Maybe it was because Luffy had somewhat accepted Ace's absence for years before and thus, he had also grown independent from his older brother figures as he travelled through the seas with his crew.

Even though Luffy could also be said that he was the same as when he started off pirating, a more mature part of him grew when he actually took the time to think about everything after Ace had died in Marineford. Yes, he always did have his own thoughts but he had never gotten around to sit around and think properly because he didn't think that it would be important.

Sometimes, he wondered how much did he care for Ace. He always thought that he liked everyone equally but Luffy had never thought that he'd get this devastated when his brother was gone (he had never thought that Ace would die anyway). It was till the extent that he even forgot about his own crew and was ready to give up his dreams of being the Pirate King. To Luffy and everyone else around him, to be even thinking of giving up his dreams for a second was a ridiculously big deal. But Ace seemed to be the only one who had triggered that thought in time while he had saw many people died before, they only gave him strength to continue his dreams. Being a Pirate King was his everything so does giving it up when Ace was gone equals that Ace was worth more than him being a Pirate King? Would he had felt the same way if his friends were to die in front of him too?

"Lu, you're making a funny face," Ace mumbled while holding Luffy's face close to his, efficiently snapping him out of his thoughts. "What are you thinking about?"

Wasn't he drunk? Luffy thought for a moment before grinning at him while grabbing a marker from somewhere and played connect the dot with Ace's freckles. "Ace's face looks even funnier now! Shishishishi!"

"… Luffy!" Ace shouted and grabbed Luffy into a tight headlock. "Don't think that you're going to get away with this, eh."

"Come on! It was fun!" Luffy protested while trying to squirm away.

"Oh, I will show you fun when I beat your ass!"

"No way! I'm way stronger than Ace," Luffy retorted and stuck out his tongue at him.

"You wish!"

Sabo finally returned from the washroom and sighed when he saw the scene. It didn't take him long to find out why the both of them were fighting after looking at Ace's face. "Fighting again? You two should give it a rest for today," he said before grinning. "Nice face, Ace."

"Saaaaboooooo!" Ace roared as flames started to appear around his body.

"Oi, don't burn the restaurant down," Sanji said in a gruffy tone as he used his leg to hit the top of Ace's head, finding it little problem for himself to handle fire. "If you guys want to settle it, do it outside on your ship, okay?"

"I think we should go outside for some fresh air," Robin suggested and stood up. "Sanji, you've been working all night and you hadn't have time to rest yet. You should join us and have a small round of drinks before you go to bed."

Sanji's eyes immediately turned into hearts at Robin. "Aw! Robin-chwan cares about me! Alright, I'll make sure that your care wouldn't go to waste!"

"I'm not finished yet," Zoro announced as he gulped down another drink.

"I'm not either. The 500,000 beli is mine," Nami said in determination.

"A determined Nami-swan is really attractive too," Sanji swooned before glaring at Zoro. "Oi, marimo. Don't go too hard on Nami-san or I'll kick your ass out of this ship," he warned and exited the restaurant with the others before Zoro could say anything in retort.

When they got onto the Moby Dick, they saw majority of the crew had already passed out from exhaustion. It was a few more hours till dawn but the ones left standing and awake were surprisingly tolerant and stubborn. Even as Ace and Luffy were starting to sway together from side to side and only managed to get onto the ship with Sabo's help. But even so, they refused to go to bed yet as they wanted to stay awake for this night as long as they could. It was one of the best parties that they had ever attended. Naturally, it was because they had one of the best cooks preparing it for them. Much to Sanji's disappointment, Robin had retreated back to the Thousand Sunny to sleep.

Sanji had to admit that this night had taken out a lot out of him but was still able to stay full awake due to the night training he had taken up on ever since he had gotten his memories back. He didn't want his skills to lag behind the others, especially Zoro so he specially used most of his free time to train by swimming and some running. It was also partly because he didn't want to get kicked back into the 'Hell' to polish himself again. One time was more than enough to give him a nightmare that could perfect his 'Diable Jamble' techniques no matter where he was. He didn't even need those ugly men to appear before him to make him so scared that he'd run for his life. He was constantly imagining that they were behind him and at night was the best time as he would be too tired to think of anything else.

"Oi, you brats going to join us?" Zeff called out.

"Drinking with you wouldn't be fun, shitty geezer," Sanji grumbled.

"Don't get sour on me just because your female friend left the party, you shitty brat," Zeff shot back.

"Gurararara! It was starting to get boring here anyway."

Ace, Luffy, Sabo, Marco and Sanji joined the both of them since most of the ship was occupied by the sleeping figures of the defeated crew members. Sabo had wondered how could Whitebeard and Zeff take it when they had drunk so many barrels of alcohol. Sabo's alcohol tolerance was as good as Ace and Luffy considering that he only drank when the other two did. But compared to the crew members sprawled out in the most embarrassing way for the world to see, Sabo could say that the three of them could take a lot more. He had never remembered what happened when they were drunk but the damages in the houses pretty much explained everything the next morning.

Ace and Luffy had decided not to drink anymore. Ace wanted to hold Luffy longer (and make sure he doesn't re-draw on his freckles) while Luffy thought that it was more interesting watching Sanji getting drunk than drinking himself. And seeing Sanji getting drunk was always quite a sight.

"A-And, they chased me all over the beach and wouldn't stop calling my name with their disgusting voice," Sanji cried out in his drunken state while grabbing the shoulder nearest to him to cry on. Namely, it was Marco's. "Those aren't humans! Even a sea monster is so much cuter than them!"

"But Ivankov is a pretty cool guy," Luffy commented, remembering how he had helped him during the Marineford war.

"He was the worst of all!" Sanji objected while almost choking over his own words.

"Well at least you had gotten stronger," Luffy said with a reassuring grin.

Sanji lifted his head up and glared at him with swollen eyes from crying too much. "Speak for yourself! You were in paradise while i was in hell! You have the most beautiful woman asking for your marriage! I hate you so much, do you know that?"

"You mean Hancock?" Luffy asked.

"The Pirate Empress?" Sabo exclaimed in shock. "How did you manage to get her to ask for your hand in marriage."

"So she was the one," Ace grumbled. "I don't care who she is but Lu isn't going to marry her."

Although Ace had to admit that she was the most beautiful woman that anyone could see, there was no way Ace would lose to her. Heck, she wouldn't be good enough for Luffy! Even though Ace wouldn't speak for himself, Luffy had already said that he'd rather stay with Ace than marry her and he'd very much like to bring that up to rub it in a face if she ever tried to propose to his Luffy again. Being mean had always been a part of Ace but it was just that he wouldn't bring it up to people who didn't have a problem with him anymore. This time, he was the one who had a problem with the Pirate Empress.

"She is a great friend but I wouldn't marry her."

"Such beauty and elegance that rivals the glamourous mermaids living in the ocean," Sanji swooned while sighing hopelessly in love. "She is truly the one. Boa Hancock is my one and only All Blue-Ack, what was that for, you old geezer?" Sanji complained when Zeff's wooden peg came into contact with his head.

"You have cheap tastes to be comparing the All Blue to a woman, you shitty kid!"

"So mermaids really do exist," Sabo murmured in awe. "I take it that all of you had seen a mermaid before, right?"

"Of course. But the first one we've seen was really gross," Luffy said while making a face. "Her name is Kokoro-baa chan."

Marco raised an eyebrow at him. "Kokoro? Wasn't she one of those mermaids who made it up to the human world to live there? Pops and I met her more than twenty years ago and she seemed like just any mermaids living in Fishermen Island, yoi."

"That wasn't a mermaid!" Sanji shouted with tears in his eyes. "She looked more like a dugong!"

"That was rude, brat," Zeff scolded again and hit him on the back of the leg with his wooden peg again. Obviously he hadn't seen any mermaids looking like a dugong before because his next comment was, "All mermaids look the same."

"I-I don't want to live anymore," Sanji sobbed as he fell into a lifeless heap against Marco's side while the blonde was having some trouble in finding words to say.

"By the way, do any of you guys know if mermaids poop?" Luffy asked.

Suddenly, Sanji's head shot up from Marco's shoulder and grabbed Luffy to shake him while shouting that mermaids do not poop. Ace and Sabo had to wonder why Luffy had became so interested in people pooping. In the past, they'd have to constantly restrain Dadan from killing Luffy when he asked something along the lines of it.

"Youngsters have so much energy nowadays. Gurararara!"

"And ruder," Zeff grumbled.

* * *

The party was finally over for the rest of the group and each of them had retreated back to their rooms.

Marco had taken up the job of bringing Sanji back to the Thousand Sunny while Sabo had already retreated back to a room earlier on. Ace and Luffy decided to share a room for the night since the latter was too lazy to go back to the ship and wanted to see how did Ace's room looked like. Apparently from what he had heard from Marco before, every commander had the luxury of having their own rooms to themselves. To Ace's surprise, his room was kept the same as before except for the absence of Luffy's wanted poster hanging on the wall opposite his bed. He really had to thank Marco tomorrow morning.

Ace and Luffy didn't waste anymore time in getting into the bed for a goodnight rest. When Ace laid beside Luffy, the older brother instinctively pulled Luffy into his arms and was glad that he wasn't pushed away (Luffy never did). However like the many other times they had slept this way, Ace couldn't stop the slightly accelerated pounding sensation against his chest.

"Lu…?" Ace called out when he realized that Luffy was still wide awake. "You have been thinking a lot today and it's kind of worrying," he joked while hoping to get Luffy to speak his mind.

It was true that Luffy had been thinking a lot today (which the thinking only started after Ace had died) and even though the scenarios of his thoughts jumped from one to another, all of them seemed to revolve around Ace.

"I'm just thinking that if we are going to be separated again," Luffy admitted truthfully.

"Separated? It isn't like you to think of something like that. Is there something that is bothering you?"

"Well, I just don't want Ace to leave me again. Even though we're traveling together now, I just don't want Ace to go off by yourself again or for our crews to part ways in the middle of the journey," Luffy mumbled. "And what if the second one happens? Will Ace leave me again?"

Ace bit his lips as he pondered about it. It was truly a difficult question for him to answer. While he wanted to stay with Luffy as much as he could, he was still the Second Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and he couldn't imagine himself leaving the crew. He didn't know how the people around him would be affected with either choice.

"I have to stay on this ship," he answered slowly and Luffy remained silent. "Lu?"

"I guess it's more important for you," Luffy mumbled in disappointment, feeling very weird all of a sudden.

"What are you talking about? Both are equally important to me."

"Liar."

Ace immediately narrowed his eyes at the accusation. "How am I being a liar, Lu?"

"I'm not as important to Ace anymore since you would prefer to stay here. We didn't spend a lot of time together when we were travelling in the seas before too." They only met two times, to be specific.

"I was looking for Blackbeard and at that time, I had to find him as soon as I could and couldn't afford to be slowed down," Ace reminded. "You usually never thought of something like this either so I thought that you'd be okay."

Luffy didn't understand much but judging from what he was feeling, Ace's reason wasn't well accepted. He had never thought of the feeling of being selfish or greedy no matter how much food he'd snatch from the others but at this very moment, he suddenly felt that he shouldn't be feeling what he is now. Common sense was telling him to accept Ace's reasons and just let it be but his desires wouldn't allow it. And it was obvious which Luffy usually went by.

This whole thing felt like a child throwing a tantrum because his older brother had a new one and played with him more.

"But I wasn't. I just suddenly felt that Ace wasn't a brother anymore and didn't care for me much. I always thought of Ace as my only brother and didn't want to share it with anyone else," he rambled on as he started to hit his fists against Ace's chest. "Since Ace already had a family, I thought that you wouldn't need to see me anymore and at that time, I still didn't fully understand it so I didn't think about it until you d-died."

"Don't be stupid. I wouldn't stop-"

"You would," Luffy insisted stubbornly.

"Don't interrupt me," Ace snapped before letting out a sigh. He was also taken aback by Luffy's new behavior. "I told you that I care for both equally and it wouldn't be any lesser for you."

"I don't want that!"

"What do you want then?" Ace asked impatiently.

Luffy bit his bottom lip to stop himself from crying and to refrain himself from speaking the truth. It was weird. It was too weird and it was even weirder that Luffy had acknowledged it. Before the both of them knew it, their small talk had escalated to this. "I don't want anything. Stupid Ace. I'm going to find Sabo instead," he announced and wrestled himself free from Ace's grip.

"Lu!" Ace called out when Luffy got off the bed. When he received nothing in return as Luffy continued for the door, he let out a groan of frustration and looked away instead, not bothering to stop Luffy from leaving this time.

What the hell had just happened?

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

At the Moby Dick...

"Ace! How many times do I have to tell you to stop falling asleep when you're leaning against the edge of the ship, yoi," Marco scolded for the nth time.

"I couldn't help it. It's not like I can predict when I am going to fall asleep," Ace defended while raising his hands in the air.

"Then don't lean against the edge at all, yoi! You're a devil fruit user and you should know better that you shouldn't risk yourself falling into the sea," Marco continued on in annoyance. "If no one was around, you could've drown and died before anyone noticed it. It's a good thing that I always walk around the deck or else it would really happen, yoi."

Meanwhile at the Thousand Sunny...

"Luffy! How many times do I have to tell you to eat your vegetables," Sanji reprimanded.

"But I don't like eating them," Luffy whined.

"Even though you don't like those healthy greens, you still have to eat them or else you'll get sick eventually and that's the last thing we need to deal with," Sanji nagged on. "And you should know very well that I won't allow anyone on this ship to waste any food. I prepared every meal for everyone so that they could get the best nutrients to stay fit!"

_Mother hens... _Both side of the crews thought as they watched the scene.

* * *

Okay, maybe the last part was kind of uncalled for but I'm usually the type who writes in what I imagined. And I did pretty much imagined that up. I'm not sure if it is considered IC but I'm sure that anyone (including Luffy) would start to have insecurities once their fears are being triggered. After Ace's death, I doubt Luffy would be able to shrug it off as easily as he make himself seem to be and would start to have small thoughts. When time passed by, I could see the thoughts slowly growing and started getting wilder as everything constantly revolved around Ace.

I think that since Luffy had started to mature after the two years timeskip, he would continue to mature as he became the Pirate King and go ahead with the next life. Love is only a matter of time and Luffy hadn't brood around it much was because the people around him weren't even considerable candidates other than Ace (who had dropped out of his life abruptly before he could have a chance to think).

As much as Luffy was straightforward, I could see him as the type of being able to stop himself from speaking especially when it involved around Ace as he didn't want to risk their friendship. It was either to prevent Ace from disliking him or vice versa.

Luffy aside, I plan to have something big and unexpected for Sabo (I don't want him to remain as a 'minor character') which might end up you guys chasing me with a knife for complicating things.

Speaking of that, I realized that there aren't a lot of dialogues as I liked in earlier chapters because I was too into explaining things (which I am afraid I might have to do that if I continue complicating things -shoots self-). I'll try and make a good balance from now on. u _ u I've been a little down recently since I've been quite insecure with my own writing...


	8. Reconciliation And Making Family

I initially planned to finish this chapter by yesterday but writing out the first chapter to my new fic had been more time consuming than I thought. Seriously, I had been feeling that my writing had been lacking a lot compared to before (if it had worth anything in the first place X'D). I don't know if it was my insecurities speaking or it's true but I had been feeling that my writing isn't satisfactory. OTL

**Neko-VongolaPrimo: Really? I couldn't help but think that I might be making them a little too OOC. I had tried to edit a little to make it more fitting but I doubt the difference would be as big as a spider's web and heaven's garden. OTL Ace's death had definitely affected Luffy badly so Luffy wouldn't let it go ever. He'd be more aware and conscious around Ace, which will also confuse himself at the same time. xD And Luffy doesn't like to be confused.**

**Marco and Sanji are definitely the mother hens in their respective crews xD It was kind of obvious with how Marco takes care of his crew and Sanji preparing bento for his own kind of makes it a huge factor too. B'l**

**I don't know how I'm going to do a revised Skypeia arc or any arc that happened in the series but I'll try my best to do it!**

**anonymous: Sabo's deal is revealed in this chapter xDD**

**azab: I'll try my best to put him in as much as I can within this whole mess xD**

**StrawberryGirlKairi: Nah. It would be too soon for Luffy to be realizing his feelings but I doubt that it would take another six chapters for him to do it xD trust me, it'd be pretty soon. Maybe you'd have to wait awhile more for Law since I need to find a way for them to meet without another timeskip. B'l**

**shadowmarialove: Not many people had thought of that xD**

**ouyang393: And you've read my mind! I don't think it's canon but I'm putting it as a part of my fic. And I'm sorry D: I tried to make it seemed more like a child throwing a tantrum since it fits Luffy's image more but I had always viewed most fights to be like that anyway xD;; I edited it a little but I don't think it helped. OTL**

**ASLfangirl: It's never difficult for someone to gain Luffy's forgiveness. BD At least, when that someone happened to be Luffy's close friends.**

**Smile-Evily: Thank you! :D**

**Death Phoenix: I tempted to add more to Sanji's drunken scenes but I thought that I should give Marco a break. Dealing with Strawhat Pirates would seem new for anyone even for Marco who had been pirating with almost all his life! xD Sanji definitely treats his food as much as he treats women while Luffy and Usopp still didn't share the same view. 8'D **

**Sanji seemed more like the kind of mothers who could get comically angry at their children while Marco seemed more like a father who would try to calm the mother down while keeping his kids out of trouble. Gosh, I'm really out to make the both of them into parents! Hopefully, they wouldn't have any kids or at least think of adopting one. B'D**

**Sorry about the sudden fight between the both of them. I honestly didn't expect that as well because I usually typed after imagining a scenario one after another and this somehow got into my head. Ace and Luffy could hardly talk about good communications 8'D Ace had never been good with words while Luffy often spoke the wrong things at the wrong time. LOL!**

* * *

The next afternoon, the Moby Dick and Thousand Sunny were finally ready to leave Baratie's care. Most of the people had already recovered from the hangover while Zoro and Nami were still sleeping in their rooms due to their excessive drinking. Even people like them do have their alcohol tolerance limit. In the end, both of them didn't get to find out who won the bet since the both of them had fallen prey to alcohol and there wasn't anyone awake around them to judge. But nevertheless, her crew bet that Nami would insist that she had won once she had woken up and would even throw Zoro off the ship in an attempt to prove her point.

"Thank you for taking care of us," Ace greeted politely.

"No problem, boy," Zeff said gruffly.

"It would be great if you could advertise about us during your journey," Patty proposed with a huge grin on his face. "All of you would be our biggest and toughest customers. It was a lot of fun trying to keep up with you and your brother."

Ace laughed. "Leave it to us."

"I'll be going now, shitty old geezer," Sanji announced, and not planning to get on his knees like what he had done before. Sanji had a lot of talks with Zeff to substitute for his act of gratitude while Zeff had reassured Sanji that the kowtow goodbye was not needed now.

"Yeah. Hurry up and get going," Zeff urged and turned to Marco. "He may be a whole lot of problem but take care of him for me. You seemed to be the only responsible and reliable one among the brats. Must have been tough on ya'."

"Will do, yoi."

"Tch. I can take care of myself," Sanji grumbled.

In response, Zeff and the chefs around him laughed which only aggravated Sanji more.

"You're the brat who will always be a brat," Zeff said.

When they were done bidding goodbyes to each other, both of the ship finally sailed away from the Baratie and decided to head for the Grand Line. To be more specific, their next destination would be for the Calm Belt, which would mean that they would run into numerous Sea King. They weren't much of a problem for the alliance since they had men who were more than capable to defeat the Sea Kings. Even without having to fight, both Whitebeard and Luffy had their mastered Haoshoku Haki to avoid unnecessary conflict. Meanwhile, the navigators, Nami (who joined after she threw Zoro off the ship) and Sabo discussed about their next location.

"Hey, Sabo," Ace called out. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure," Sabo replied and excused himself while knowing what did Ace wanted to talk about. Having Luffy barging into his room in the middle of the night would give him enough of a hint that something had happened between these two again. "About Luffy, right?"

"Y-Yeah." A small hint of hesitation flashed across Ace's eyes. "He was acting weird last night and I want to see if he had told you anything about it."

"Of course he did," Sabo said and gave him a sigh, unsure of where he should start. Maybe it would be better if he went straight to the point and he didn't have to worry about Luffy hating him for telling because… well, Luffy wouldn't just hate anyone for petty reasons. "He said that you weren't paying attention to him anymore ever since you have your own crew. Apparently, he didn't think as much about it since he thought that he had more time to get your attention until you died-which, by the way, you didn't tell me anything about."

Ace groaned and gave Sabo an apologetic glance. "I just didn't want you to laugh at me."

"I'll do that later," Sabo reassured just like how a good brother would. "Back to Luffy… isn't it obvious that he is jealous of your crew? Even though he wouldn't realize anything about romance but you two are the closest as brothers. Seeing you being closer with other people than him would make him think that way. Right now, the only reason why he would be this troubled over it was mostly because of your death. Luffy is scared that he wouldn't have time to get your attention back."

"That idiot," Ace grumbled.

Luffy didn't had to go all the way and Sabo knew that very well. All Luffy had to do was pay attention to someone else and Ace would be high on his toes for him. It's not advisable for Luffy to get himself kissed or laid because the damage would be much more severe and probably up Ace's bounty a few more zeros if it happened to be some World Noble.

"Speak for yourself, I had to deal with /two/ idiots," Sabo retorted as Ace gave him a playful push. "I'm not all too worried since I know the both of you are going to be fine eventually and I bet that Luffy should be feeling a lot better by now."

Sometimes, it was scary how Sabo knew everything about the both of them. But then again, Sabo had watched over the both of them as much as he could remember in his taken up memory capacity. It was also one of the reasons how Ace and Luffy could trust him with their own lives.

"Thanks for telling me. I didn't expect Luffy to think this way at all," Ace admitted.

"You underestimated that guy too much. It took me a whole lot longer time and attention to become used to his unpredictable antics."

Luffy was still their lovable little brother nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Luffy was hang around with Marco while the latter was reading a newspaper. The blonde didn't particularly minded someone's presence when he was doing something but Luffy wasn't the quietest person around. Sometimes, Marco had forgotten which article he was reading after feeling the need to respond to Luffy when he brought up strange things again. It was weird to see Luffy not hanging around with Ace since Marco knew how much Ace loved his brother. But seeing how the two brothers hadn't really interacted when they were pirating, perhaps they were capable of distance as well.

However, he did sense Luffy's body posture stiffen when Ace approached the both of them. A fight? It wasn't difficult to tell.

"Lu, come over here," Ace said as he motioned to the spot a few distance away.

"No!" Luffy responded stubbornly. "I'm having fun with my big brother."

Ace's eyes widened before he turned to raise an eyebrow at Marco who gave him a helpless look in return. Ace did tell Marco to take care of Luffy if anything were to happen to him and he assumed that it was what Marco had been doing ever since he died. But he didn't expect Luffy to label Marco as his new big brother at the same time. But seeing how Luffy had always instinctively sought for a dependable older brother figure, Ace couldn't blame either.

"Come on, Lu. Just for awhile, I promise," Ace persuaded.

"Luffy. Just listen to what Ace has to say, yoi," Marco joined in when Luffy made no move to cave in.

Luffy puffed his cheeks out in a childlike manner before dragging his feet after Ace. Although he had gotten a lot better compared to last night, he still hadn't got his thoughts fully sorted out yet and was still confused about the things that he didn't tell Sabo about. He could figure out what he was feeling and felt that it would be better left out in case Sabo would tell Ace about that too.

"What happened?" Sanji asked when he walked up to Moby Dick's deck and sensed the atmosphere between the two brothers.

"They had a small fight, I think." Marco responded.

Sanji looked at both of them before shrugging lightly. "It's not like Luffy could keep a grudge for long anyway," he commented knowingly and propped himself up onto the ledge. "Try this for me and tell me what you think," he requested while giving him a small smile.

Marco looked at him for a moment before taking the fork resting on the side of the plate of cake. "Sure, yoi."

* * *

Quarreling like that and ending it with a cold shoulder made Ace thought back of how it was like when they were kids. But luckily, they hadn't gotten to the point whereby they'd build two small boats, place one on the Moby Dick while the other on Thousand Sunny, and label it as their own countries this time. Then again, it'd be hilarious to see Luffy building his own boat on a ship that was originally his.

"Lu, you're still angry with me, aren't you?"

_No shit. Why did I ask such an obvious question?_ Ace thought.

"No…" Luffy lied but obviously wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to apologize for," he admitted. That was because now that he thought about it, he couldn't exactly help the dying and joining his crew part. Luffy probably wouldn't believe him if Ace told him that he resisted the latter as much as the former initially. "But you're being childish."

_No, no, no no nononono! _Ace berated himself mentally. That wasn't what he wanted to say! Damn his stubbornness and to hell with his pride!

"You're the one being childish!" At least Luffy didn't seemed shameful for doing that.

And the backlash continued for a few more seconds before Ace was finally able to control himself.

"Okay, stop." Ace held out a hand and was breathing heavily. Why was solving things with Luffy more difficult than accidentally listening to a woman giving birth to a kid? "That wasn't what I wanted to say-don't give me that look!" Ace snapped when Luffy looked at him doubtfully.

"If you have something to say then say it," Luffy said impatiently.

That urge to add something on his head and it wasn't a bounty.

"You idiot," Ace growled and grabbed Luffy by the shoulders. For some reason, it calmed Ace down a bit. "I'm sorry for not paying attention to you before I died. I didn't know it would affect you that much since you seemed like you would be fine on your own and with your crew. I didn't expect you to get jealous either since you really don't seem to be the kind who would get worked up over such matters. Do you get it, Luffy? I love you more than I love this ship!"

"…Okay."

"Huh? Okay?" Ace was really confused now.

"I mean, everything is alright now, right? So okay!"

"That easy?!" Ace snapped and started shaking Luffy back and forth. "You stupid rubber! You don't just worry someone with your mood swings then respond with a damned 'okay' when I didn't have a good night sleep over it! You may be okay but I am NOT okay!"

"Then what do you want me to say?" Luffy asked, trying to stop Ace from shaking him too much.

There was a lot of things that Ace wanted him to say but it wouldn't be appropriate now. He let out a groan and finally stopped shaking Luffy after he felt himself getting tired. Dealing with Luffy is tiring and Ace was going to repeat that in his head so many times. Finally, he let out a sigh of relief when the anger slowly started to dissipate and hugged Luffy close to him.

"Ace?" Luffy mumbled, and Ace gave him a small 'hm?' in response. "I'm sorry."

"Lu…"

"I didn't want to tell you because I thought that you would hate me if I did. And I wanted to get Ace back on my own."

Ace chuckled softly. He kissed Luffy's forehead and kept him close in his arms. He couldn't possibly forget about how Luffy had boldly challenged Whitebeard over saving him. "You don't have to do that. I'm already with you now, aren't I? There is nothing which will be more important than you to me."

Luffy gave his usual snicker as he seemed satisfied with Ace's answer. "Mm! And I love Ace too!"

Although Ace was hundred precent sure that Luffy didn't mean it in a romantic way, he still couldn't control his blush and nosebleed at how adorable Luffy was being. Usually, people would lose that cuteness when they grew up but for Luffy, it only amplified. One day, Ace was going to get Luffy to understand it and say it properly.

"I'll be the one doing the protecting this time," he promised before adding, "and Marco can't be your big brother."

"Why not?"

"Because." There was a smirk on Ace's face as he started to speak louder. "Marco is everyone's 'momma'."

"ACE!" There was a very unamused look on Marco's face a few distance away.

Luffy's eyes widened in realization which Marco didn't know why the heck did he believe his brother. "I see," he said and turned to face Marco to bow. "I'm sorry, momma!"

"I'm not anyone's mother, yoi!" Marco snapped.

"Anyone who thinks that Marco is our 'momma', give us your agreement!" Ace hollered.

The huge chorus of 'AYE' ringing through the deck only proved how much Marco could speak for himself.

"Every one of you is going to have double work for a week," Marco snapped.

"I'm very sorry, mom," the crew spoke in unison again.

Thatch laughed and patted Ace on the back. "I'm fond of you already," he said with a grin before walking towards Marco and Sanji. "See? I told you that you're taking the title 'mother hen' a whole new level. But we're all grateful for the care and love you give to us, mom!"

"Thatch…" Marco started off warningly.

"Wasn't that what Sanji always say whenever he makes food for us? Something about caring and love in the food he makes," Luffy supplied.

Thatch wriggled his eyebrows at the new information. "That makes Marco and Sanji officially our parents then."

Sadly, Thatch didn't have the chance to say any more when Marco and Sanji flipped him over into the sea. And it was lucky that Thatch wasn't a devil fruit ability user or else he wouldn't have came back in less than thirty minutes. But it was a little price to pay in exchange for making fun of his childhood friend and his new victim. For some strange reason, Thatch felt like he had to team up with Ace to bring the fun in teasing Marco into a maximum level.

Sabo sighed and shook his head, knowing that the days that would follow would be anything but peaceful.

_But it's definitely going to be an interesting one, _Sabo mused.

"Hey! Why did Marco get to eat Sanji's cake?" Luffy shouted when he saw the half-eaten dessert in Marco's hand.

Oops.

* * *

When everyone continued to make a scene out of Marco's and Sanji's newfound status in the alliance, Sabo finally had the time to think for himself. Yesterday during the party, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness rushing into his head and he knew that it wasn't because of the alcohol (he only had a sip for god's sake). During the night after his party had ended, scenarios started to appear in his head before everything started to piece in his head and formed into a memory. Sadly before he had time to ponder more, Luffy had interrupted by throwing himself onto his stomach.

It's not advisable for kids to do that to their parents.

_How am I going to tell them… _Sabo wondered.

However, the last thing he remembered was sailing to the location of the One Piece to finally meet up with Luffy. All this time he had been part of the Revolutionary Army under Monkey D. Dragon and had been secretly watching over his brothers. It all started with Luffy's father rescuing him from that fateful day when his ship had been attacked by the World Noble's. When he came to, he was offered to join the Revolutionary Army and he accepted it after he was given an explanation of their goals. However, his job didn't allow him to meet up with Ace and Luffy directly because Sabo and his team were constantly on the move.

But what was weird that he couldn't remember anything about One Piece's location.

And judging from how Luffy didn't know about his presence either, Sabo was pretty sure that no one remembered anything about what had happened within One Piece's domain.

He would just have to confirm with everyone when the chance arises. For now, he'd rather let the joyous scene play out in front of his eyes.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

"I can't believe that you would just go and fight your battle alone, yoi!" Marco grumbled after everyone left the island that they had docked at. "You should be sticking with at least one of your friends so that they could watch your back. Anyone could just come charging behind you with a spear, yoi."

Sanji waved his hand lazily. "I don't have to worry about that. I've been battling my opponents on my own more than Luffy and the others had."

"And that's what makes it worrying, yoi! You won't be as lucky as the previous time."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm with Nami-chan most of the time."

"You were protecting her and not the other way round, yoi! You should get one more person who could watch AND protect your back."

Sanji rolled his eyes and patted Marco's shoulder. "Don't be such a mother hen."

-x-

"Marco! I've been hearing that you've been skipping your meals ever since everyone knew you. Even your old geezer told me that you don't eat regularly," Sanji complained.

"I've a lot of work to do, yoi," Marco explained, or at least tried to.

"That isn't a very good excuse. A balanced diet should involve a healthy three meals per day. Not one or two and definitely not five," Sanji scolded. "I know you have tons of work to do since you're a Commander but that isn't a good reason for you to be skipping meals. It's unhealthy and it's going to get you sick one day. From now on, I'm going to drag you to eat and I won't care even if you happened to be throwing Ace and Thatch into the sea."

Marco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I had been fine all these time without eating breakfast and lunch, yoi."

"And I'm stopping it," Sanji snapped. "You should be eating three meals daily and nothing less!"

"You're being such a mother hen," Marco mumbled.

_Both of you ARE mother hens... _the crew thought. Even when they were dealing with each other.

* * *

And that's all for this chapter! Hopefully it didn't go badly. For the people who are confused, here is a low down of the explanation

1) Sabo didn't die in the 'past timeline' and instead joined Monkey D. Dragon's revolutionary Army after Dragon saved him from his apparent death.

2) Sabo wasn't aware of Ace's execution until it was announced because he was constantly moving around with his team.

3) Sabo didn't meet up with Luffy or Ace because his place in the Revolutionary Army didn't allow him to reveal his identity as much as he liked.

4) Sabo didn't meet Luffy in the 'past timeline' and they only met up in the One Piece's location.

5) For the people who had retained their memories, none of them remembered anything that happened in the One Piece location or it's whereabouts.

6) The author for this story is an idiot. 8'D

Because I suddenly have this imagination of Kizaru wanting to smack Marco's ass and it just won't leave my mind. Go to sleep, Fifth. You're drunk.


	9. Are You Ready To Dive Deeper?

Hey guys! Here is the new update. Sorry that I hadn't been too active in my writing lately since there had been things weighing me down. When I wasn't pissed, I was depressed and when I wasn't depressed, I was pissed. I was finally able to take a breather today though...

I'm not cut out for mysteries! OTL -Bows to everyone-

**anonymous: Hahaha! I think I've read about this somewhere regarding Marco being the crew's momma but I forgot where. And nah, I don't think Ace and Luffy would be capable of any horrible reactions when it comes to Sabo. XD**

**Maria Rianki: I'm really tempted to make that into my storyline. ROFL. I don't know but I kind of think Kizaru would want to smack Marco's ass for some reason. It kind of pops into my head. And I'm so sorry for the lack of romance. QAQ I'm just the type who preferred things to go along slowly (Although, sometimes too slow) but the Skypeia arc would be more of MarcoxSanji based! :D And nah, Sabo would know better than to keep secrets from his brothers. xD**

**Cyborgnetics: It'll be explained in this chapter although I don't know if the reason is good enough.**

**Arjenka: Thank you and I will!**

**Hotaru Jaegerjaquez: The eleven supernovas wouldn't come in so soon, sadly. D: They do have to meet at Shabody Park after all.**

**azab: Hahaha! I can picture it clearly in my mind! Law wouldn't be appearing soon, sadly D:**

**ASLfangirl: I know, right? Luffy is just adorable on his own! Yeah, I read a fic regarding Marco as a mother figure but I couldn't find it anywhere now. D: Don't worry. The straightforward approach always kind of works. :P**

**sakura240: I'm glad that you enjoyed the omakes so far! :D Since I can't write a full out angst, I suppose that putting funny omakes at the end of each chapters would work well. XD And everything will be explained here!**

**Death Phoenix: Yep! Definitely. Although Zoro could match up with Sanji in terms of maturity, it probably would be a bad idea to label him as a proper parent figure because of his sense of direction and other things. In fact, he is more like a papa than a mama xD However when it comes to caring, Marco and Sanji definitely has it hands down!**

**Yeah, I won't be surprised if Luffy was really traumatized by Ace's death till that point since I kind of took it harder than he did-I think. LOL! I am still not over Ace's death yet! Yeah, it'd be great if it was actually canon but a lot of speculations of it had been shot down. x.x**

* * *

After everything had died down-no actually, they were still intending to call Marco and Sanji their new nicknames despite various threats of swimming with the Seakings and extra piles of work, it was already evening. Sabo had to respect the crew for their tolerance and enthusiasm with the way they insisted on the name-calling despite the workloads that would eventually befall on their heads. At least, Marco looked pissed enough to do it. However, as pissed as Sanji could get, he could never threaten someone with food unless they happened to be Luffy whom he could afford to cut two meals out of his usual five.

Things were really progressing well and it hadn't been more than a day since they left the Baratie.

Sabo considered postponing his 'story telling' until a later date since he didn't want to shock all of them with everything he had to say in one day. But on second thought, maybe it would be better if he were to spill everything out since it could be what Ace and Luffy might want to know. Could they really take having so much excitement with no breaks? Or maybe Sabo was just used to being merciful. He had been like this even when he was in the Revolutionary Army which made both Dragon and his team calling him soft.

Considering what he was going to say, Sabo was going to need everyone who still had their memories intact so that he could tell them about his hypothesis too. He had asked Marco if they could have a talk among everyone with Whitebeard included and the request was, of course, granted.

This led to everyone cramming in Whitebeard's room upon the request. If Whitebeard's size wasn't enough to take up most of the space, the room for the captain was pretty damn small too. And it didn't help that Sabo had stated this as a private matter.

"So Ace's brother, what is it that you want to talk about?" Whitebeard asked.

Sabo glanced at everyone and took in a huge breath. This was going to need _a lot_ of explanations. "Recently, I got my memories back from the previous timeline too. Apparently, I survived the attack back at our hometown when I was twelve."

"EH?!"

"Which one? The one whereby Ace tried to kick us out of our secret base?" Luffy asked in confusion.

Nami growled and slapped him across the back of his head. "He was talking about the attack that you thought had killed him obviously!"

"Oh-EH?!"

"Wait, you survived that? Meaning, that you weren't actually dead when we were already sailing the seas?" Ace asked and upon Sabo's nodding, he was trying hard to calm his mind down. Obviously, this would be a bigger shock to him than learning that Sabo was a Noble. He could deal with that, at least.

Luffy's eyes were still bugging out at the revelation. "Did you eat Hatchan's takoyaki? Did you eat Panz Fry's volcano cooking? Did you-" Ace quickly interrupted Luffy by placing his hand over his mouth.

"Important questions, Lu," Ace reminded before it was his turn to bombard Sabo with questions. "Did you laugh at me when I died? Were you watching everything from Shabody Archipelago? Did you-" Marco cut Ace off by whacking him over the head.

"Those aren't important questions, yoi," Marco snapped.

Sabo sighed and rolled his eyes at his brothers. "No Luffy, I didn't have any of those. And no Ace, I didn't laugh or was in Shabody Achipelago when everything had happened. But Luffy, I thought you would've suspected something since when I visited Ace's grave a year after, I placed three cups of sake there."

"I thought that Ace was feeling nostalgic and put it there as a zombie," Luffy murmured.

"Lu, a zombie doesn't think," Ace pointed out before turning to Sabo. "But how did you survive? The bandits were sure that you were gone for good. And why didn't you come back to try to find us?"

"First of all, Luffy's father, Dragon saved me," Sabo answered and waited for a while before continuing. They needed time to absorb this after all but Whitebeard and Marco seemed to be taking it in better than everyone else. "I woke up a few weeks after and Dragon offered me a place in the Revolutionary Army. In the end, I accepted his offer because of personal reasons. I couldn't afford to make myself known since I thought it'd be better if my parents thought of me dead. I did intend to meet up with the both of you but we didn't manage to cross paths."

"You were in the Revolutionary Army…" Robin murmured.

Sabo glanced at her, knowing that she was one of the slaves held in Tequila Wolf. She was one of the Strawhat Pirates so naturally, she'd be one of the talk among the Revolutionary Army. In fact, Dragon's son and his crew were one of the mostly talked topic around.

"We didn't meet after all?" Luffy asked as he tried to search his memory.

"I think that we did meet since I was heading to the place you were last at before, which brings me to my question now. Did any of you guys remember anything about the location of One Piece and anything that happened in it?" Sabo asked.

Nami, Robin, Sanji, Usopp, Zoro, Franky, Brook and Marco looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"Now that you mentioned it, I don't remember anything about the place," Luffy said. But he did remember the words spoken by 'One Piece'.

"I didn't either so I guess it was intentional to have all of our memories wiped from that particular event," Sabo confirmed.

"But why did you decide to tell us now? Or did you just recently got your memories back?" Ace asked.

"I've wondered about that too since I should get my memories around the same time as you guys," Sabo replied. He had thought about this for some time now and all he could get was hypothesis. "Maybe it has something to do with Luffy…"

Luffy tilted his head and pointed at himself. "Me?"

"There has to be something that brought us back to this timeline with our memories intact and not everyone else in the world. I could say that it was most likely you since you said before that you were the one who found One Piece. And also, it was the last event that you said had happened before everything restarted." Not to mention that Luffy sounded confident that it was the cause of the restart too.

"It has something to do with the brat's desires then," Whitebeard spoke up. "One Piece, to be put in simpler term, is a wish."

"Luffy did say something like that," Ace murmured as he petted Luffy's head.

"If it's a wish, then our standings here should be because of Luffy's wish. I could understand that Luffy would want Ace to be alive but what about our memories? I don't think it's supposed to happen if Luffy's wish was to simply bring Ace back alive, which could only be done with a restart," Zoro pointed out.

"But what if Luffy's wish wasn't just that?" Sanji countered.

Everyone turned to look at Luffy who was looking confused. As far as Luffy was concerned, he didn't remember what kind of wish did he make to One Piece. It felt more like the treasure was the one who found out about his wish on his own. But if they were talking about Luffy's feelings, then he could roughly tell what One Piece had seen.

"Hmmm, I just wanted to live together with everyone happily," Luffy said simply.

"The bonds," Sabo spoke up afterwards after mulling for some time. "Luffy's wish was for everyone to be together. All of you would have your memories back sooner since your bonds and memories with Luffy were the most recent and strongest. However, Luffy and I only met in that island itself ten years after my death. And if because our memories of that island couldn't be retained, it's considered as a decade worth of separation and absence."

"The stronger the feelings Luffy felt for us, the quicker our memories come back?" Nami asked as if to re-confirm.

"You're pretty smart, aren't you brat?" Whitebeard commented.

Sabo chuckled at the compliment. "I was the head of Dragon's strategical team and I had gotten used to solving mysteries when I was under him."

"If you put it this way, there are possibilities of other people outside of this group who had their memories, yoi," Marco pointed out.

"I think that it only applies to the people who were at the place or else I could think of a lot people I know who would've their memories retained. I can understand Ace but we can't find out for sure since we don't know exactly who were there," Sabo supplied.

And the weirdest part, which Sabo couldn't figure out, was that how did Dragon had already gotten back his memories when Sabo was still twelve.

-x-

Everyone in the room had pretty much discussed and answered most of each other's questions. However, Sabo didn't let it known to the others that Dragon had also retained his memory. He remembered his encounter with Dragon before the Gray Terminal was to be set on fire and their conversations were completely different from before. Dragon seemed like he knew him at that time and even told him to take care of his brothers instead of treating him with hostility. Initially, Sabo had found it weird that a stranger knew of their relations but everything made sense after Sabo had recovered his memories.

Not only that, Whitebeard's memories were also restored and as far as Sabo knew, Whitebeard and Luffy's relations weren't strong enough to include him like it did for Ace.

"So… how was my dad like?" Luffy asked.

"Your dad, huh…" Sabo raised an eyebrow in thought while trying to find a perfect way to describe him. "First of all, it wasn't easy to gain his trust and was extremely hostile towards Nobles. He doesn't like to speak of his past and he always have this confident smirk on his face."

At this, Whitebeard, Marco, Sabo and Luffy turned their heads towards Ace.

"…Why are you looking at me?" Ace asked.

"You could say that his smirk was like Ace's when he beats someone up," Sabo added in.

"Ace doesn't like to speak of his past and he tried to kill me several times before we became friends," Luffy piped in. "At that time, Ace didn't like a lot of people either and usually ended up picking a fight with them when they confronted him."

"They were taunting me," Ace reminded and sighed. "They were also making fun of you."

Luffy pouted. "I still didn't want Ace to get hurt because of me."

"I'll remember that next time," Ace promised casually and kissed Luffy's forehead, completely not minding that they were in front of many eyes.

"Roger, Dragon and I used to be close even though we used to clash. However, he was much closer with Roger than myself," Whitebeard informed. "Even though Ace's personality wasn't much like Roger's, you do harbor a bit of resemblance towards Dragon."

"That doesn't make sense," Ace grumbled.

"This brings me back to a conversation the three of us once had…" Whitebeard started.

_Flashback_

_"Hey Edward, you treat your crew as sons, do you? Have you ever thought of having your own son?" Roger asked._

_"No. I'm satisfied with my sons now," Whitebeard replied and raised an eyebrow at Roger. "What? Don't tell me you're interested in having your own son? It's very unlikely of you to be thinking that far."_

_Roger glanced upwards as if in thought. "I was thinking that if I happen to die or something…" Catching the look in both Whitebeard and Dragon's eyes, he quickly laughed it off. "Of course, I don't plan in doing so but it seemed kind of fun to have an adorable baby who is like me."_

_Whitebeard and Dragon's thoughts were pretty much the same._

_God save the world._

_"Right…"_

_"How about you, Dragon? How would you want your son to be like?" Roger pressed._

_"A son who is nothing like you," Dragon replied simply with a smirk._

_Roger bit his bottom lip and looked at Dragon as though he had betrayed him. Whitebeard had to agree with Dragon though. "You cold friend. Well, I hope that my son doesn't turn out to be a wet blanket like you too!" he retorted._

_End of Flashback._

"… And look what happened," Whitebeard finished off and looked at the two D. brothers.

Everyone was pretty much thinking of the same thing. While most of the people from the olden days mentioned that Luffy resembles a lot like Gol D. Roger, Ace pretty much looked like the kind who would be more reserved when it came to being social, like Monkey D. Dragon. But it was pretty silly and humorous that both of Dragon's and Roger's wishes backfired on them. Even Whitebeard had found it amusing.

"I can't believe that conversation actually happened," Ace mumbled.

"Dragon liked to tease Roger a lot," Whitebeard said.

"it's really unbelievable that well-known people like them would act like that," Zoro mumbled.

Everyone looked at Luffy.

"Why is everyone looking at me?" Luffy asked.

Ace chuckled and patted his head. "Nothing, Lu. You're just an interesting person."

"But regardless, Ace is still Roger's son after all. For example…"

_Flashback_

_"Basically, ninety percent of the place consists of clouds and clouds. After walking around, I met a pretty cool guy named Gan Fall and he told me about the Shadians-Hey, Dragon! Man, that guy fell asleep on us again," Roger groaned when Dragon's narcolepsy kicked in again._

_"You do that several times too," Whitebeard pointed out before narrowing his eyes at Roger who took out a marker. "What are you planning to do?"_

_"When Gan Fall was telling me about the Shadians, I thought that their tribal tattoos were pretty awesome and I wanted to try drawing it myself," Roger simply said before closing the marker with a smirk. "There we go."_

_Whitebeard sighed and shook his head, completely unaware that Roger's attention had been turned towards him._

_"Dragon is going to be angry when he wakes up," Whitebeard commented as he started to stroke his mustache like he always did._

_Roger snickered and was hiding another item behind his back after using it. "Of course, he would."_

_"This feels weird-Hey, Roger! What did you do?" Whitebeard growled when he felt that his mustache didn't fall like it usually would. _

_"Cloud cement which I requested from Gan Fall!"_

_"I fell asleep," Dragon mumbled and saw his reflection in the cup of sake. He immediately turned to Roger and fixed him with a glare. _

_"Roger…" Whitebeard and Dragon growled._

_In the end, Roger laid on the floor with two huge bumps on each side of his head while Whitebeard and Dragon tried to undo what Roger had done. Dragon did manage to erase the marker ink on his face while Whitebeard's mustache was pretty much a lost case. _

_End of Flashback_

"That was cool!" Luffy and Brook exclaimed.

"Idiot…" the rest of the crew disagreed.

"Roger was also a man of many pranks," Whitebeard said as he was starting to reminisce.

Ace turned to Marco with an evil smirk.

"Don't you even dare, yoi!"

"Dragon do have tribal tattoos when I was working under him," Sabo remarked.

"Yeah. He got it after Roger's execution and it was the same one that Roger had painted on his face," Whitebeard replied. However, for him, his beard was pretty much stuck on him for his life whether he wanted it or not.

Thinking back, the three of them were pretty close save for Whitebeard's and Roger's rivalry fights that happened from time to time. Dragon would always stand in the sidelines and preferred not to get involved, pretty much like how Sabo usually does when Ace and Luffy fought. However, he would throw a teasing remark or two which would get either one of them to get riled up and the battle would end faster.

Dragon was a very complicated man.

* * *

After the meeting was over, it was already nighttime and everyone was talking on the deck. Nami had suddenly brought up the next topic that they were going to discuss. Apparently, Nami, Sabo and the other navigators had decided on the next destination: Jaya. And Nami already knew where would Luffy want to go to once they got there. At least, Nami hoped that Luffy would still want to go to that place.

"Our next destination would be Jaya. Do you guys remember the Sky Island?" Nami asked.

"Of course I do!" Luffy chimed in.

"Sky Island?" Ace asked.

"It's an Island in the sky," Sanji explained.

Sabo's right eyebrow rose. Could the world get any weirder now? "An Island in the sky?"

"There is a sea too," Sanji added in. "Basically in Jaya, there was a person called Montblanc Cricket. He was a descendant of Montblanc Noland and was looking for the City of Gold. Have any of you heard of the North Blue Fairy Tale?"

"I did," Sabo replied. "But wasn't it supposed to be a fairy tale?"

"Nope, it's based on a real person. And the book itself was a lie," Sanji answered.

"In Noland's logbook, the City of Gold is located in the right eye of a skull-shaped island. However, more than half of the island was shot up into the sky by a Knock-Up Stream along with the City of Gold. Right now, it's known as the Upper Yard," Nami explained.

Brook clapped his hands. "How wonderful!"

Ace folded his arms and looked at Luffy. "I don't know. It seemed more like a fairy tale but I have no reasons to doubt Luffy either. But then again, we would be able to see it for ourselves as long as we're heading towards the Sky Island, right?"

"But the Knock Up Stream is dangerous, yoi," Marco pointed out.

"Noland should be able to help us strengthen our ship quicker with Franky's help and he knows exactly when to ride up the stream," Chopper reassured.

"What about that Bellamy guy? He tried to take away Noland's gold last time and we had to fight him to get it back. Even though we may get there a lot earlier, there is no telling how long we might take in Sky Island this time and how long we would even get to Jaya," Sanji reminded.

"Then we'll split our groups into two. One will stay in Jaya with the Whitebeard Pirates and a smaller group of seven will go to Sky Island. We can't afford to bring a large number there, considering the laws that should be enforced there by now," Nami informed. "Not to mention that since they're in a war now, it's better to go with fewer people."

"I'm definitely going!" Luffy exclaimed. "I want to try the other Ordeals this time!"

Usopp was shaking at the reminder of the Ordeals and dangers that were present there. "I'll just sit back here and protect Noland with the rest of the crew!"

"M-Me too," Chopper said.

"I want to see my lovely Conis-chan again!" Sanji chimed in with hearts in his eyes.

"If Luffy is going then I am too. Sabo, Marco, you guys are going too, right?" Ace asked his two closer friends.

"Sure, yoi. I'll just talk to pops later," Marco answered.

"Of course I am," Sabo added in.

"If Thousand Sunny is going then I'm coming along too," Franky said.

"I want to see how it's like too," Brook volunteered.

Nami scanned across the group and counted on her fingers. "So Luffy, Sanji, Ace, Marco, Sabo, Franky and Brook are going. Perfect, that makes seven. You should be able to do fine without me since Sabo would be going in my place as a navigator," Nami informed with a smile. "By the way. Don't forget to bring back the gold!"

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL**

****"So all of you are here talking about us, huh!" Roger declared as he burst into the room.

"Roger. You aren't supposed to be in this story," Whitebeard pointed out.

"Come on, I can't even make a proper appearance in the anime so I might as well come here to visit my son!" Roger looked over the group and omitted the possibilities until they landed on Ace and Luffy. Luffy was sitting on Ace's lap with huge eyes in wonder while Ace was holding Luffy and regarding Roger with a glare. "So you must be my son," Roger said joyously as he picked Luffy up from Ace's lap.

"Hey!" Ace cried out.

"Roger, that's Dragon's son. The other one is your son," Whitebeard corrected.

Roger raised his eyebrows before looking at Luffy in his hands then at Ace. "My bad," he apologized and set Luffy back on the ground. He turned to Ace with a grin. "My son!"

"Shut up! I'm no son of yours! My only pops is Whitebeard!"

...

"Ed-ward New-gate," Roger mumbled while glaring at his long time rival before jumping onto the man. "Why the hell did you steal my son? Didn't you say that you're satisfied with your crew? I don't remember giving my Ace to you!"

"Roger, you fool!" Whitebeard shouted and threw him across the room.

"Fine!" Roger exclaimed and picked Luffy up. "I don't mind having this one as my son too!"

Suddenly, a hand was placed on Roger's shoulder and everyone could feel the sudden drop in temperature.

"Roger..."

"...Hey, Dragon."

Luffy was suddenly set back onto Ace's lap and his attention was diverted towards the cuddling that Ace was giving him. Or else, he'd be watching a pretty bad fight between Roger and Dragon.

* * *

Everything seemed like a mess, isn't it? XD I'm really sorry though since I kind of wrote it this way but I didn't know how it would be like in readers' eyes. I mean, it seemed fine to me but I don't think it would be fine with you guys. TTATT Uuuuuuugh...

Snap out of it, Fifth. OTL


	10. All About Marco and Sanji

This whole chapter would be based on Marco and Sanji's relationship. I was planning to go ahead with Jaya and Skypiea but I'm still sorting things out in my head. XD And oh my god, Luffy's singing is so damn adorable. -Epic nosebleed-

**YinYang21: Thank you and here it is :D**

**Kiyoumi: Thanks! It's really difficult to include every characters in a single chapters especially when they are as many as... I don't know, more than ten? QAQ**

**anonymous: I always thought that there was at least a close friendship between Luffy and Ace's fathers. :D Yeah, Ace would pretty much get fired up as long as someone insults his loved ones. xD**

**Maria Rianki: Thanks! I am usually paranoid over a lot of things and that includes my writing as well. My English hadn't been the best and I was afraid that I was moving things along too fast Dx Or rather, too slow when it comes to romance. OTL And yeah, it's pretty difficult for me to include all of the characters in and sometimes I forget about it. I tend to write without planning, you see. But then again, I just felt like I have to keep the serious mood as stable as possible xD**

**I couldn't imagine someone getting a tattoo just because of that though xD But a prank from Roger seemed legit enough seeing how he had only gotten it after his death. That's only in my story though but I'm not sure if anyone else thought the same way o3o**

**StrawberryGirlKairi: Thanks! I was kind of itching to write those scenes when I suddenly thought of it. xD My inspirations doesn't come very often and only does at random. ;x I hope that the subsequent chapters will continue to amuse you! :D**

**(The song that Luffy sang was 'Holy Holidays' and nowhere owned by myself. However, I had edited some parts of the lyrics)**

**Song link: www. youtube watch? v= sQTSqRn2MiM**

* * *

_The sky is clear! The wind is LOVELY!  
Holy Holiday Holy Holiday  
Just now, I've decided_

_Ace is pranking Marco again_

_Marco gets mad and throws him into the sea_

_Sabo jumps in and save Ace_

_Hum… Brook? Why is he in the sea?_

_Sitting on Sunny, watching the sea  
The whirlpools look like Sanji's eyebrow  
Not gonna bother with books or whatever  
It depends on Robin. Depends on the mood!_

_No matter where you go on this incredibly large ocean  
It connects to the Grand Line!_

_The sky is clear! You're the best!  
Holy Holiday Holy Holiday  
That's right! Today is Luffy's day!_

_Ace kisses my forehead everyday  
Why is Marco always looking at Sanji?  
I wonder if Sabo is feeling lonely  
Hum? A doctor? Maybe he could heal him_

_Sitting on Sunny, watching the sea  
Starfishes always reminds me of Franky  
Not going to care about maps or something  
It depends on myself. Depends on the mood!_

_An incredibly large dream; no matter where you're from  
Bring it on, I say!_

_The sky is clear! The wind is LOVELY!  
Holy Holiday Holy Holiday  
Just now, I've decided_

_The sky is clear! You're the best!  
Holy Holiday Holy Holiday  
That's right! Today is Luffy's day!_

After Luffy finished singing, Ace hugged Luffy and kissed his forehead while muttering something about 'dangerous adorable little brother'.

It had been weeks ever since they entered Grand Line and it'd take a few more days for them to arrive at Jaya. They did stop at many islands and harbors to rest and restock. Seeing how the Strawhat Pirates had already visited most of the places, Luffy was feeling bored.

"Watching me?" Sanji asked Marco. "Do you want more desserts or anything?"

"Something like that…" Marco lied. _Since when Ace's brother is this sharp…?_

"Don't worry. I'm not feeling lonely or anything," Sabo reassured and laughed. In fact, it was far from it; it was fun and lively being in this group. Although having to jump into the sea to save Ace's ass was getting tiring. Sanji could relate though, since he always had to save Brook when he forgot that he was a hammer and tried to save Ace. The cook had saved the hammers' asses more than anyone else.

Whitebeard looked between Marco and Sanji while recalling his conversation with Zeff. Sanji, huh. He must've been special to be able to catch Marco's attention like this. After all, Marco wasn't exactly a romance material. Having being the one to raise him, Whitebeard knew that Marco always prioritize his work and the crew's safety above anything else. That was why he had started wondering when Marco started having three meals per day. Well, four now that Sanji started to feed him desserts too.

"Marco," Whitebeard called out. When Marco turned to face him, Whitebeard gave him a smirk. "Heh."

_Pops knows too… _Marco grumbled in his mind.

Ace looked at the exchange and smirked. So, that's what it's all about. Luffy might have caught Marco's staring but Ace was sure that Luffy had no idea what was going on. He suspected that some of the members among them would've known already. But he couldn't believe that he took a long time to know about this. It's a new teasing material and perhaps something Ace could help Marco with.

The freckled teen walked over to Marco and slung an arm around his shoulder.

"Finally, eh?"

Marco's eyebrow twitched as he tried to swat him away. "You should focus on your own problem, yoi."

"You looked as though you needed more help than I do. Come over here for a sec," Ace said before waving off the confused audience behind him. "It's nothing big. Just go back to what you were doing," he reassured.

"What is it, yoi?" Marco asked impatiently when Ace dragged him off to the corner.

"When did it happen?" Ace asked, sounding like a child who was about to open his present.

"When did what happen?"

"You know, when and how did you start liking the cook?" Ace pestered.

Marco rolled his eyes at his curiosity. He wasn't particularly comfortable with talking about himself, much less his love life. "Somewhere after I met him? I don't know, yoi. But it was during when we were traveling together to face Teach."

"How did it happen, huh?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?" Marco grumbled.

"Looks like I'm pushing your buttons," Ace teased while ignoring Marco's claim that he had always been pushing the phoenix around. "But no really, I just wanted to know how this whole thing began. I'm your best friend after all so you should tell me everything."

Marco looked at him skeptically. "You're just having fun listening and watching me squirm, yoi."

"I do," Ace admitted and shrugged. "You're just too much fun to mess with. But no, I just wanted to know as a friend, really."

"You sounded like those gossiping girls," Marco retorted.

"Hey, I don't go around asking everyone about their love life. I'm just interested since you didn't seem to be the kind who would fall in love with any other than your work. Plus, it's Sanji we're talking about here. I just found it weird but nothing unpleasant."

"You do realize we don't have time to be falling in love with our line of work, yoi," Marco pointed out.

Ace scoffed at that. He had been in love with Luffy for a long time now… but Marco did have a point. Pirates often didn't have a chance to focus on romance when they were busy surviving and fighting for their dreams. In fact, it should be the last thing on their mind. "True but you seemed more relaxed about your work and is more focused on watching Sanji."

At least Ace could get to kiss Luffy now and then.

"Stop prying, yoi," Marco mumbled, starting to feel embarrassed about it.

"You know I won't give up until you tell me, right? Fine, just tell me what do you like about him then."

"Damn it, Ace," Marco cursed and gave a heavy sigh when Ace showed no signs of backing out. "Fine. But you'll stop pestering me about it after I tell you, right?"

"Guaranteeing nothing," Ace replied casually.

Marco felt the urge to knock Ace over on the head or throwing him back into the sea. At least, Thatch wasn't joining in this time since it was his turn to supervise the ship. At least, he could trust Ace enough to keep it between them, right?

"Whatever, yoi. Anyway…"

_Flashback_

_After having a rendezvous with the Strawhat Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates decided to travel with them for a bit. Marco, the current Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, became more focused on his role to the point that anyone could see he hadn't been sleeping or eating well. In fact, Marco became more serious than before although he still remained close with his own crew. _

_To Sanji, eating once per day was pushing it but not eating for two days was preposterous._

_Usually, the Captain's cabin was off-limits but the crew had allowed the cook in since they were also worried about Marco._

_"Oi, it's time to eat," Sanji called out._

_"Sanji?" Marco looked up from his desk and wondered how did he manage to get pass the guards. "I'm busy now so I'll just eat later."_

_"Don't give me that shit. You hadn't been eating for two days already. Food is important when you want to live and it's bad to be living with an empty stomach. If you want to work then do it after you eat. Or maybe after you get some sleep too. You look really shitty now," he commented._

_Marco shook his head and sighed. "I don't have the time, yoi."_

_"Bullshit. I'm not asking you to eat later, I'm ordering you to eat /now/," Sanji said and placed the plate of food on his desk._

_"I told you that-"_

_"I don't care what you told me. I won't allow someone to starve while I'm around," Sanji stated and leaned against the wall with his arms folded. "Look, your crew is worrying about you too. If you're a captain, you shouldn't be giving them so much worries in the first place. No matter how much work you have, you should be well and fit enough to protect them when something happens. And I know that no one could do it with an empty stomach."_

_"Alright. After I sort these out, alright?"_

_"No, now."_

_"Sanji!" Marco snapped._

_Sanji moved again and placed his hand on the table. He leaned over in a threatening manner. The cook used his other hand to pick up the spoon, scoop some rice in it and shoved it into Marco's mouth. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't even dare to do something like this to a Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates. However, the Strawhat Pirates were only exceptions to this sort of fear. _

_Marco's eyes widened as he stared into Sanji's own narrowed ones._

_"I will feed you like this until the plate is empty if I have to," Sanji threatened._

_End of Flashback._

"…You sounded like you're already whipped before you fell in love with him," Ace commented.

"Shut it, yoi!"

"But I'm glad that there was someone to take care of you," Ace said with a smile. "But since you had already liked him for so long, why hadn't you told him anything yet? Or tried to make a move on him or something. From what I see, all you does is just watch."

"At that time, I couldn't afford to shift my attention away from the crew," Marco replied. "And it's obvious that Sanji doesn't feel the same way."

"How would you know that?" Ace countered. Alright, maybe it was obvious with the way how Sanji would fawn over every beautiful women he meets but Ace doubted that he would be able to settle down with a female if he loved all of them so much. "I don't know much about him but he had fed you with desserts."

"He does that to his crew too."

Ace rolled his eyes. "Yes. His crew AND you. You don't see him offering it to us."

"We have a big crew, yoi."

"We do but he could've only fed his own crew if he wanted to. But he chose to feed YOU too. So that had to mean something, right?" Ace asserted and was feeling close to hitting Marco over the head. He wasn't a very good cupid but he wanted to make sure that his best friend was happy, at least. On a side note, he'd have to start Sanji to give him some of the desserts too. They looked really good.

Marco ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I don't want to think of the possibilities, yoi."

"Just wait. I'm going to bet you a month worth of duties that Sanji would feel something for you," Ace swore.

"You're on."

* * *

Sanji was just done preparing the desserts for everyone when Ace and Marco had finished their conversation.

Honestly, Sanji felt weird about this whole thing. He didn't know that Marco had been staring at him but he definitely knew that it wasn't over desserts. It wasn't like Marco would've spoken his mind just because he had been caught staring. The commander had always been a hard read and not even Robin could fully figure him out sometimes. With the way how all of this was going, Sanji felt as though it was dangerously heading down the road of a very cheap skate lovey-dovey manga. Whatever it was, Sanji had spent the hour thinking about this issue.

And he was so absorbed that he didn't realize he made Marco's dessert into a heart-shaped.

Or maybe he was just subconscious about this whole love thing.

"The dessert is ready!" Luffy cried out and flew over to the dining table.

"Idiot! I haven't called for you guys yet," Sanji snapped.

"Now, now, it doesn't matter," Luffy said happily. "I'm going to bring this out and eat it with Ace!"

Since when did Luffy started sharing? Oh well, if Ace wanted some then he could've told Sanji about it. He wasn't picky about his customers and the reason why he didn't make any for the Whitebeard Pirates was because he didn't want their cook to get fired.

"Desserts, desserts!" Usopp sang.

"I wonder what we're going to have today," Chopper sang along as the both of them passed by Sanji.

"We better hurry up before Luffy finishes his food," Nami urged.

"Hmm?" Robin turned her head towards Sanji when something in his hand caught her attention.

Sanji went to the deck of the Moby Dick as usual and saw Marco reading something again. It wasn't a surprise for Marco to be as much of an avid reader as Robin and himself but it seemed to be the only thing he would do during his free time.

"Oi, Marco," Sanji called and caught Marco's attention. "Here is today's dessert. I've added more as you requested."

"Thanks… yoi… " Marco trailed off when he took a good look at the dessert.

Sanji raised an eyebrow at him but didn't divert his sights towards the dessert. "What? You don't like it? But you hadn't even taken a bite of it yet."

"No, it's nothing like that," Marco said quickly and took the plate, wondering what had Sanji been thinking. It didn't seem as though he did this unintentionally but it also didn't look as though he would be the kind to prepare this for a guy.

Did Ace tell him everything they talked about?

Marco glanced at Ace who was stealing a bite out of Luffy's dessert.

Highly unlikely.

"That's good," Sanji replied with a grin, still not realizing what he had done to cause such a reaction from Marco. Maybe the guy had overworked himself again. "Nami said that we'll be reaching Jaya in a few days."

"I've heard, yoi." Marco started to eat the dessert before he paused his movements.

Did he just call Nami without the suffix?

He glanced up at Sanji who was looking out at the ocean absent-mindedly while smoking. What caused the sudden change? Marco shifted his gaze back down onto the half-eaten heart-shaped dessert, wondering if he was just over thinking this. He was so damn sure that he wouldn't lose the bet against Ace. If possible, it'd be great that he lost but Marco didn't allow to get his hopes up at the same time. Sanji is special and good… too good for him. Marco? He was just an older pirate (way older than everyone thinks) and didn't have much to tell about his own life.

"I wonder if this is alright…"

"What?" Marco asked when Sanji suddenly spoke out of nowhere.

Sanji blinked and looked at Marco. "Oh, it's nothing much. Don't pay mind to it," he reassured.

Marco really had to try hard to throw away his attention on that matter.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

****"My son!" Roger cried out as he flew over to Ace with his arms spread open.

"Gah!" Ace immediately moved, resulting in Roger flying into whatever that was behind him.

"Heh. Do you think I'll give up so easily? I'm not going to take you back from that damned Whitebeard!" Roger swore and regained his balance. "I'm going to get Ace back on my own!"

"Don't use Luffy's line, you shitty old geezer!"

Roger only smirked as he neared Ace. Even though he was still speaking fine, he looked as though he had gone through another Edd war. After all, he and Ace had been doing this for days already. "I understand that you must be feeling lonely all this time. Worry no more! Father is here to stay with you!"

"You persistant bastard!" Ace cursed and kicked him away.

"You leave me no choice, Ace! I'll just have to use Dragon's son as a bait." Roger took Luffy in one arm although the younger D. brother didn't seemed to mind. In fact, he had been idolizing Roger for his life.

Ace's eyebrow twitched in irritation at that. "Don't touch Luffy!" he exclaimed, kicked Roger in the face and held Luffy protectively in his arms.

"Roger that fool," Whitebeard grumbled.

* * *

Alright, I am now considering adding Law into the fic and join the small group of seven to Skypiea. But then, I am also okay with adding Law in after the Skypiea arc too prior to my initial intention of only adding him in when they arrived at Shabody at least.

So how about it? :D

Should I add Law in the next chapter or after the arc is over?


	11. Onwards To Skypeia!

Re-uploaded!

* * *

Finally, they were nearing Jaya.

Marco and Sanji had gotten closer during the trip much to Ace's delight in winning the bet. Chores weren't just suited for him. Whenever he tried to do something, Luffy would appear out of nowhere and distract him from his work anyway. Ace was actually a responsible person who finishes his stuff if he had too but no matter how important the work that might be, they couldn't compare to the need of bringing Luffy out of his boredom. He tried to harass the others but mostly, he usually wanted attention from Ace instead. It was amusing how Luffy hardly thought of anyone else whenever Ace was around considering how short the boy's attention span is.

If he wasn't bothering Ace, he would be trying to catch food.

As Marco and Sanji were having a brief conversation on the deck, Luffy was running around and showing the huge shark that he had caught. He'd better not throw that in Thousand Sunny's aquarium again, everyone thought.

"I got food! Food!" Luffy cheered.

"Oi! Don't run around with that. And don't put it in the aquarium again," Sanji warned.

Luffy snickered as though he hadn't heard Sanji and placed the shark down onto the floor. "Can you make that soup again? The one that you made last time! Um… Shark butt soup?" Luffy guessed.

"Shark FIN soup," Sanji corrected and shook his head. How could Luffy even think of eating a shark's butt? "I'll think about it," he added.

"I'm so hungry, Sanji," Luffy whined.

"You just had snack! A huge one!" Sanji snapped.

"But I'm still hungry. Make some dinner, Sanjiiiii," he continued to whine, much to Sanji's annoyance. "Come on, Sanji. I'm so hungry that I'm about to eat Marcoooo. His head looks like a pineapple," he sang.

"Oi!" Marco snapped.

Sanji couldn't help but laugh at that. True. Sanji had thought that his head looked peculiar the first time they met too. It was his bird form and hair style that reminded him so much of food. And Sanji liked food so anything which resembles food would catch his attention more. However, it wouldn't catch his attention as much as beautiful women does. He grinned and gathered the root of his hair together in his hand.

"Hey Luffy, you mean like this?" he teased playfully.

Luffy nodded and let out another round of laughter.

Marco blushed slightly in embarrassment but was also distracted by Sanji's teasing grin. "Oi! Don't do that, yoi," he grumbled.

"Hey, that looks fun," Ace commented as he joined in the group. He, too, grabbed onto the same spot after Sanji removed his hand.

WHAM!

"Ace! I'm starting to get tired of saving you!" Sabo groaned and dived after his sworn brother while Luffy was rolling on the floor laughing. Sanji was clutching his stomach while trying to suppress his chuckles at Marco's anger. The tortured man had a vein ticking threateningly on his forehead.

"That's not fair. You didn't hit Sanji when he does it," Ace complained after Sabo got him out of the water.

"I don't see you doing anything for me. At least, he makes food and doesn't torture me as much as you do," Marco retorted and shot him a glare when Ace started to snicker knowingly at him. Oh he would know that it wasn't the real reason.

Sanji chuckled again and shook his head. "Alright, I'm going back to make dinner. Try not to kill each other until then," he said, walked away from them and gave a small wave before jumping down onto Thousand Sunny's deck.

"Ace! Play with me," Luffy demanded and jumped onto Ace's back.

"Okay, okay," Ace gave in with a grin and patted on Luffy's head. "Careful not to walk into the kitchen while he is cooking or he'll mistake you for an ingredient," Ace told Marco.

"Like hell he would, yoi!"

Ace flashed him another playful smirk and walked away with Luffy hanging from his back. Marco shook his head at his retreating figure before taking up on reading his book again before Sanji appeared just now. At least Thatch was busy plotting for the next titles of pranks to play on Marco to do anything today. He wondered if he could switch to the Strawhat Pirates but that wouldn't stop Thatch or Ace from further torturing him. Life was just a joke for him sometimes.

But at least it could put a few uncharacteristic playful grins and chuckles on Sanji's usual grumpy or serious face.

* * *

When they at Jaya, the Strawhat Pirates made their way towards where Montblanc Cricket and his fellow friends were staying at. It wasn't difficult to get him to help enhance their ship for smoother sailing on the Knock-Up stream. It felt strange that the Strawhat Pirates had to speak to them as though they first met them.

Come to think of it, they had made many important friends during their trip. They helped each other and forged a strong bond with one another. It was kind of lonely that they didn't remember them and they had to act as though they had never met them in their lives. There were many times that they would like to talk to them and say to them a sentence of, "I'm back! How are you?" but they'd get weird looks if they did. Luffy wanted to tell them how the descendent of Shandians also had the story passed through their generations and was waiting to be able to hear from each other. There was so many things to say but none of them could pass through their mouths.

"Have a safe trip, guys!" Cricket bided the arranged group farewell.

"I'll definitely ring the bell for you!" Luffy shouted.

"I know you will," Cricket said with a grin. For some reason, he felt as though Luffy could really do it. "Ever since I met you, I have a feeling that you won't let me down. You're really a strange kid."

Luffy opened his mouth briefly before settling with his trademark grin and gave him a wave. "Alright! Let's set out!"

"Remember! If strangers ask you to pay up! DON'T pay a single cent!" Nami shouted and shakes her fist. "And promise me that you will knock out anyone who asks you for money!"

"That's going a bit too far…" Sabo muttered and sweatdropped.

The Thousand Sunny now headed for the Knock-Up Stream for a ride. Thanks to Sabo's guidance and skills which were already on par with Nami's, they were able to make around successfully. Soon, they found that their surroundings were of the same clouds that Luffy saw during the previous timeline. Everything felt so familiar despite the memory being slightly cloudy in his mind. It was as though the other happenings during their trip were pushed back and the memory of Skypeia was brought forward. Sanji also felt a feeling of nostalgia immediately as he looked around.

"There!" Luffy shouted. He shot his arm upwards and caught a fish. "This is that tasty fish!"

"What is this thing?" Ace asked as he poked the strange fish.

"Since we're in the sky then this must be a sky fish," Sanji simply said and caught the fish when Luffy threw it towards his direction. "I heard that they are pretty good so wrap up a few more and I'll make some bentos with it."

"Doesn't it have a more appropriate name, yoi?"

Sanji shrugged. "I hadn't heard of one."

"Ah, this brings back so many memories that my eyes are brimming with tears," Brook commented softly before pausing in his tracks. "Ah! But I don't have any eyes though. Yohohoho!"

_According to Nami, we are supposed to keep going forward. We'll have to remember as much as they told us about this place because this Enel guy will definitely be listening, _Sabo thought and looked towards Luffy. _Not only that, we have to make sure that Luffy doesn't let anything slip._

The task sounded more difficult than spoken.

Suddenly Luffy's eyes darted to the sight and he shot his arm out to grab something… or someone.

_It's that shandian, _Sanji thought and glanced towards the others.

_Is that the guy?_ Ace thought to Sanji when he caught his look.

_No, that isn't food! _Sanji glared at him.

_What? I'm wrong? Then what the heck it is? Gan Fall? But that guy looked way too young and stupid! _Ace gave him a confused look.

_Ding-dong! I need to fart! _ Brook joined in.

_What?! You're hungry too? You can't eat that guy, idiot! _Sanji growled this time.

_I think we should ask this guy who he is. _Ace motioned his hand towards the guy.

_I told you morons that you can't eat this guy! Just how hungry are you?! _ Sanji's eyebrow twitched in irritation.

_Fart incoming! _

POOT!

_All of you are receiving the wrong messages, idiots! _Sabo growled.

_You pooped in your pants?! _All of them looked at Sabo in horror.

"Oi, cut it out already," Marco interjected.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Luffy asked in confusion as he dodged the Shandian's attack.

"Nothing, Lu," Ace said quickly and finally got it when he saw Luffy dogging the offensive attack.

He immediately jumped up as his hand turned into fire. "_Hiken!_" A burst of flame flew towards the Shandian and burnt the tip of his hair. Luffy used this chance when the Shandian was being distracted and stretched his arms to grab his shoulder. He turned around and threw him away as far as possible. Since Luffy knew that they weren't enemies, there wasn't a reason for them to harm them badly.

"You guys," another voice called out from above him.

_Is that-_

"Don't even try," Sabo interrupted Ace before any weird conversations could come out from this.

"And who might you be?" Franky asked. "Are you an enemy?"

"An enemy? No, I don't have any intention to fight you. My name is Gan Fall and I'm the Warrior of the Sky. You don't seem to be from around here," Gan fall said and narrowed his eyes as he took on a closer inspection before nodding to himself. He took out something and threw it at Luffy who had caught it with ease. "If you ever need me to come to your aid, blow that whistle once. The whistle itself is for free but if you blow it, I'll charge you 5, 000, 000 Extols."

Sanji smirked at him. "That's a horrible deal, old man."

"Heh. Then try to stay out of trouble," Gan Fall advised and flew away with his… pet.

All of them looked at each other and nodded. Shandian and Gan Fall appeared before them which meant they were getting closer to the part whereby they had to go through the gate. They continued to sail their ship onwards and not long, the grand entrance to Skypiea appeared before them.

"Are you here for sight-seeing or to take part in the war?" A small old lady asked.

"Sight-seeing," Sanji replied.

"That will be 1,000, 000, 000 Extols per person."

"Sorry but-OI! Luffy!" Sanji shouted when Luffy knocked his fist onto the old lady's head. "What are you doing?"

Luffy looked at him in confusion. "But Nami told us to knock strangers out when they asks for money."

Sabo groaned and hid his face in his palm. He was pretty sure that everything would be fine if Luffy hadn't done that. It wasn't as though the old lady wouldn't let them pass if they didn't pay up. Of course, that would make them legal travelers instead and it'd be more difficult to label themselves as criminals to sneak into the Upper Yard. But still, he wondered how many level did Luffy just brought himself before they even made it pass the gate!

"Okay, nothing to do here. Moving along!" Franky whistled.

"Let's wait for this lady to wake up," Sanji suggested, which he was actually trying to buy some time before the crab showed up and take them to the Angel Island instead. It would be pretty troublesome if they had to move their own ship.

a

After they arrived at Angel Island, Franky immediately threw the anchor down.

They had to come up with their next course of action without looking too suspicious. They couldn't talk to each other about Skypiea and had to act as though they didn't know anything about it. Everyone, except for Luffy, were pretty good actors. From what they were reminded, after a high level crime was committed, a crab would take a boat away once Franky lifted up the anchor upon Conis's word. Once that was done, the remaining party would have to take a small boat up to the Upper Yard themselves. Luffy was hoping that he could get that high-class gondola this time though.

Conis, once again, introduced herself and invited the party to her house. She introduced pretty much about the dials and most of the things on Sky Island. After that, they went back to the beach with the intention of heading towards the shopping district.

"Ahem," a man interrupted them. It was the officer. "You people must be the seven illegal immigrants who knocked out the lady at the entrance."

"It was him," Franky said and everyone pointed their fingers at Luffy.

Luffy blinked and pointed at himself before laughing. "Eh? I guess I did?"

"You have just made a crime level 8 offense."

Poot!

"…Level 7 for contributing to environmental pollution."

"Brook!" Sanji snapped before shaking his head. Even though they were aiming for two (Luffy wanted to try one), it was still a stupid way to raise someone's crime. He walked towards the officer with a dangerous look on his face. "I don't like you."

WHAM!

"Sanji!" Sabo exclaimed this time. Even though it was what they were supposed to do but this whole thing felt so weird!

Sanji gave them a look. "What?"

"S-Sanji-san, I-I don't think that was a good idea," Conis stuttered and looked at all of them in concern.

"Conis-chan! So you're worried about me! Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm just expressing my hate for that bastard," he swooned as hearts started to appear on his eyes. Everyone except Luffy and Brook simply sighed and shook their heads.

Conis shook her head roughly and pointed at the officer who was slowly getting up.

"You bastard! You've just committed a level 2 crime for assaulting an officer," McKinley warned. "You are hereby sentenced to Cloud Drifting. Arrest them!"

In reply, Luffy stretched his arm back, Ace turned his hands into fire and Sabo took out his bo staff.

After his army was defeated within a minute, McKinley backed away with them but not before warning them of their crimes. They retreated for the time being, leaving the group victorious this time. Conis looked at all of them in fear for the their sake even though the group pretended to be oblivious of what they had done. Hey, at least the faster they get this over with, they could fulfill Mountblanc Cricket's wish sooner. And Luffy liked things to pass fast when it comes to something he had experienced before. He was never the type to sit through a movie that he had already watched.

"G-guys… That was really dangerous. You have to leave before they finds you again," Conis persuaded.

"Don't worry, I kind of like this place," Luffy said and grinned reassuringly at her.

"But you guys have no idea what you've done. You've just committed a Level 2 crime and I'm sure they wouldn't let you off easily," she said.

Ace scratched the back of his head and glanced at Luffy. "Nah, don't worry about it. We've gone through worse thanks to this guy. Besides, I wouldn't mind sticking around for a bit more before we make our way back."

Conis turned to Marco for help since he definitely looked the most reliable one.

"I can't change their minds, yoi," Marco said.

"Let's all enjoy our time here! Yohohoho!"


	12. Overreacting Isn't Good For The Soul

I'm so sorry for not updating this sooner! QAQ I'm really not used to writing arcs that had appeared before because I felt like I have to research and re-watch the whole thing again (which I didn't xD) so that I wouldn't leave anything out. But I did frequent the wikia to jolt my memory. xD I hope that I will do this arc justice. Anyway, I've decided that this fic will end after the following arcs

Sabaody Archipelago (Own plot with some little bits from the anime)

Fishermen Island (Huge possibility that I may not go into that and end at Sabaody instead Dx)

Anyway, thanks as always for the reviews and support :D

**azab: I almost cried at the end of the Skypeia arc and it was really something because I rarely cry over shows or animes! xD I hope that I can do this arc justice in my fic!**

**Miishai: Your reviews-LOL! I was surprised when I saw the review count shooting up to 103 when I woke up! Thank you so much! You made my day! Well, Luffy had already returned to his older self just when Ace was getting used to his clingy self xD Ace just tends to misinterpret and react dramatically whenever Luffy (or his virginity) was involved. x w x Of course, he seemed more cooler and calm in the anime but we all know who can really throw him off his feet. :P**

**Yes! Luffy has a protective father! Dragon do have to be protective over his oblivious son! And I'd think that Ace would react in a tsun manner towards Roger (ormaybehejusthateshimafteral l xD)**

**I had a really hard time bringing MarcoxSanji into light at first but I slowly managed to grow more accustomed to it as more images appeared in my mind xD Before I knew it, they are already a perfect couple in my mind and thus the scenes naturally appeared. May seem weird to other people though but I love my own thoughts. :X**

**Aimiko: Yes! I found out I did and I corrected it. Dx Ishouldgetslapped! **

**Naru-Sama: YAY! I'm so happy when you said that you're shipping MarcoxSanji more! Sobs. I know that people don't really like crack pairings so I thought that I was the only one-or rather, one of the few people in the world who would accept my favourite pairing. QAQ Well, I didn't do Roger and Ace this time but I may bring it up in future once again xD I can't do the same thing for too many times. OTL**

**ASLfangirl: Things will definitely be different xD I don't really like to follow too closely to the anime or manga because it would feel as though I'm just typing robotically. ;x But I hope that my imagination could make up for the loss. Dx**

**anonymous: Yes, Luffy would. :P He can listen when someone asserts on it xD**

**sakura240: Hahaha! Yeah, Luffy would definitely be bored of fighting Enel. He already knows that Enel can't hit him with his lightning attacks anyway ;x I'm thinking of settling things in the different way xD**

**tenebrae di obilo: I'm glad that this fic made you laugh xD I had assumed that I didn't have a very good sense of humor ;x I hope you enjoy more of this fic! :D**

**Kiyoumi: It's alright and I'm happy to hear that you liked it! :D I always feel really happy when someone says that they liked my fi don't usually think before I write so I was pretty afraid that things are messy all the time ;x I'm not very good at reading as well since I tend to instinctively skim (and missing out a few sentences) through after trying to read word by word after a paragraph Dx**

**trisha23flow: Yes, Roger is persistant xD Maybe Ace will end up wanting to kill Law instead. LOOOL! No feelings attached anymore!**

* * *

After the incident, Conis brought all of them to her house. Although they had self-initiated their own crimes, Conis assumed that it was because they didn't know of anything and people from the Blue Sea tend to behave like that. In addition, they had been nice to her from the start and only showed hostility towards McKinley and his men. To be honest, Conis didn't like Enel or his minions either and that was why she didn't express any animosity towards the newcomers despite turning into a criminal by their 'god's terms. She wanted to help them leave Skypeia at least so that they wouldn't face God Enel's wrath.

Conis couldn't understand why but ever since the first moment she had laid her eyes on Luffy and Sanji, she felt as though she needed to keep them away from danger. There was an indescribable sense of nostalgic within her chest despite being sure that she had never met them before. That was why she wanted to help them. Even if she was at risk, she couldn't push away the strong feeling of defiance.

However, it was proved to be difficult when her father instructed her to guide them to the Upper Yard. While she was fine with being in danger, she didn't want her father to suffer the same fate as well. As she surveyed the interactions between the Blue Sea dwellers, she tried to suppress the immense guilt welling up.

"So when I woke up, Law wanted to insert it (injection needle) into me (his arm). I didn't want that so I tried to run away but he caught me and tied me onto the bed. After that, he climbed on top of me (Luffy was squirming around too much for him to inject from the side) and didn't let me go. He told me that it wouldn't hurt if he rubbed some stinky and slicky stuff(numbing lotion). When he did and shoved it in (injection needle), it felt a lot better," Luffy said while proud of himself for being brave.

"He insert what into what, tie you onto what, rubbed what and shove what into your what?!" Ace yelled while his eyes was bulging out in shock.

"That's great, Luffy," Sabo complimented, obviously didn't misunderstand like a certain idiot did.

"That's NOT great, Sabo!" Ace shouted, making Sabo's eyes widen in confusion. After that, he turned to Luffy and grabbed his shoulders while his arm had turned into flames. "How much did he hurt you? No, how dare he even touch you-How dare he even think of doing it to you-No, how dare he does it to you?!"

Luffy looked at him in confusion as well. "It's not a big deal, Ace."

"Not a big deal?! Not a big deal?! It's a huge deal! H-How could that bastard lay his hands on Luffy like that?!" Ace yelled out in hysteric and a burst of flame emerged in the background. "When i get my hands on him, I'll castrate him so much that his crew wouldn't recognize his skeleton!"

"Yohohoho!"

"Geez, it didn't hurt that much. You should try it and see for yourself," Luffy advised. "Law says that it helps to uh… what was what again? Keep you happy and fit for the rest of the year (Just a flu shot which keeps the illness away)."

Ace blushed both in embarrassment of being asked to shove something into his ass (at least, he interpreted it that way) and anger towards Law for daring to tell Luffy that after doing the unspeakable to him. "Happy? Oh, I bet that sick bastard is happy, alright!" he swore and turned to Luffy again. "D-Don't tell me to try it, idiot! What are you saying?!"

"What are YOU talking about?" Sabo asked while raising an eyebrow.

"You don't understand at all!" Ace shot back.

His sweet Luffy. His sweet and innocent Luffy is being tainted by that man! How could he take advantage of Luffy when his baby brother has no idea what is sex?! Even Ace wouldn't dare to think that way about him much less intending to do it to him! Luffy is pure and innocent-ah yes, just like the image of Luffy smiling that could make flowers bloom appearing in his mind… until Law showed up behind him and grabbed his waist.

"Stay away from Luffy!" Ace shouted to thin air.

"What's wrong with you?" Luffy asked, still completely oblivious.

"Lunch is ready," Sanji announced and Luffy immediately ran into the kitchen. He looked at Ace weirdly when the older D. brother is yelling curses at a wall. "What has suddenly gotten into him?"

Sabo shrugged. "I don't know. He is always weird," he said and strode into the kitchen in a more dignified matter as if stating that he isn't related to Ace.

"Oi, how long are you going to keep acting like an idiot?" Marco asked. He was helping Sanji in the kitchen.

Ace immediately turned on Marco with a dead serious expression which almost made the blond fall over. "Marco! Do whatever you can to get information on Trafalgar Law! His abilities, his crew, his history, his childhood pictures, the color of his underwear-everything!"

"What the hell, yoi?! I'm not a stalker!"

"You don't have a camera doesn't mean you can't get information!"

"You're missing the point, dumbass! And I don't want to get his profile, yoi!"

"Since when did you become so uncooperative? I thought we're supposed to help our friends in times of need!"

"I AM helping you to stop being a crazy fart!"

"Hey, if you guys aren't going to eat, Luffy is going to finish everything," Sanji reminded.

Let's just say that they are going to be depending on Sanji's bento boxes later on seeing how Ace refused to let Marco go anywhere until he agreed to his demands. Luffy, however, was joyful that he could have extra shares and Sabo was just happy that Luffy wasn't stealing his food. Franky and Brook continued to watch them with interest.

After eating, Franky immediately returned to Thousand Sunny with Brook and Conis following. The rest of them were at the beach trying to think up of their next step. It was difficult seeing how they couldn't communicate with each other in the open unless they were in Gan Fall's home or somewhere out of Enel's mantra's reach. But since they had already discussed some ideas together before they took the Knock-Up stream, they shouldn't be that uncoördinated, right?

"I'll prepare the ship for sailing," Franky said.

"Once you're ready, just drop the anchor and you will be able to set sail. The wind should be good today," Conis instructed.

"Yohohoho! Thank you so much, Conis-san. Oh by the way, may I see your panties?"

"E-Eh? Uh…"

Franky casually threw a barrel at the perverted skeleton. "You'll be helping me for the preparations as well."

"Oh! How harsh!" Brook cried.

Without them knowing, Conis had already left the Thousand Sunny as Franky was yelling orders at Brook. Once all of them were onboard, they would be brought to the Upper Yard. It was their civic responsibilities to bring all those who had committed sins for judgement. What sins, Conis thought. So far, all of them showed nothing but kindness towards her and her father. They didn't threaten them or demand much.

Conis really didn't want to do this.

Just then, the anchor dropped and the Super Express Speed Shrimp emerged to take the boat away.

Luffy and the rest noticed that Conis had already gotten off Thousand Sunny by then and was nowhere in sight. The five of them stood up and ran towards the nearest ground towards the Thousand Sunny, which was sailing away.

"Our ship," Sabo exclaimed, starting to get into the act.

"Hurry up! Get on the ship!" Luffy cried out and extended his arms. "Gomu Gomu no…"

Marco and Sanji looked at him in pure confusion.

"-Whip!"

"Wait, I can fl-" Marco was cut off when he was hit in the back by Luffy.

Sanji was next.

Ace and Sabo hopped to dodge it nicely.

"I swear I will kill you!" Sanji swore when he landed onto the ship-or rather, landed on Marco.

For some reason, Marco had a feeling that the three brothers had discussed it way beforehand during their absence. There was no way that Luffy's attack would be that predictable! Those guys, Marco swore in his head. He was going to give them a good thrashing after he met up with them. No wonder they didn't discuss anything about who would be protecting Thousand Sunny when it got onto the Sacrificial Altar. It didn't mean that they had to resort to this. Marco and Sanji weren't very picky people. Let's just say that Luffy and Ace thought that it might be fun to give the both of them a surprise. As for Sabo, he wondered why his brothers even found it funny.

Not before long, the Angel Beach disappeared from their sights and their ship was nearing the Upper Yard.

* * *

Back at Angel Beach, Luffy was looking at the direction towards Upper Yard while Ace and Sabo were talking to each other about Thousand Sunny. It was an act, of course so that they could keep the suspicion to a minimum. They couldn't say that their acting so far was totally perfect but they hoped that it would at least prolong everything. The group mentioned that Enel was arrogant which was safe to say that he was stupid as well.

Honestly, why didn't they just march into Upper Yard and take him down?

Right, there were other inhabitants other than just God Enel. Ace and Sabo were told that the Shadians weren't very hospitable towards other people. If they defeated Enel, they would have to deal with them unless Luffy could get to ring the bell first and prove that they meant no harm. What a troublesome place.

"So what do we do now?" Luffy asked.

"Let's ask Conis if she knows anything," Ace proposed.

"Guys!" Conis called out as she ran over to them. "The ship was taken to Upper Yard. I don't know what happened but they were definitely brought there by the Super Express Speed Shrimp. What should we do?"

"We'll go and save our friends of course," Luffy said in determination even though he was the one who sent two of them flying towards the boat. "Conis, is there anyway we could get to the Upper Yard?"

Conis looked up at him hesitantly and nodded. "Yes, I can take you to the Angel Port Island to get a boat."

"Great! That could work. We can't go anywhere without our ship," Sabo remarked.

Things are going well so far.

"R-Right. When you are ready to leave, just let me now," Conis murmured.

"Don't worry, we're already ready now," Ace reassured.

"Hey! What about food-"

Sabo covered Luffy's mouth with his hand. "We've just ate, Luffy," he reminded and turned to Conis. "We'd appreciate it if you could bring us there now. As Ace said, we're definitely ready and we don't want to delay anymore. We need to return to the Blue Sea as soon as possible."

Conis bit her bottom lip and nodded slightly. "Yes, of course… I'll take you guys there now."

"Thanks a lot and I apologize for the inconvenience." Ace bowed politely and offered an apologetic smile. He had heard how much trouble Conis would have to go through now and afterwards for their sake. Nami wished that they avoided the loss of Conis's life or anyone innocent. Ace and the others felt the same way.

"No, it's nothing of inconvenience," Conis reassured with a forced smile and turned her back to them. "This way, please."

While the four of them was walking through Lovely Street, Conis became more relaxed as she talked to them about their culture. Ace and Sabo could tell that people were intentionally moving away from them. Ace was already used to it because of his childhood but still wasn't comfortable with it. He disliked it when people had to act like idiots, which he was referring to the people who used to diss him and his relations to the late Pirate King. Sabo and Luffy didn't care much.

"Ace?" Luffy called out when he noticed Ace's displeasure. He was always sharp at noticing despite his character and he was more observant when it came to Ace.

The freckled teen snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at Luffy. "Nothing, Lu."

"Is something the matter?" Conis inquired in worry while she knew why the people were avoiding them, she had planned to pretend that she didn't notice.

"Ah, something just reminded me of something else. It's really nothing important."

Sabo looked at him with a watchful gaze, knowing what Ace was thinking about. He was often provoked by the people around him when he was a child way before he met Luffy and Sabo himself. However, after the three of them became brothers, they followed Ace anywhere and Luffy was always there to rebuke against those who spoke ill of Ace. Sabo was there so that he could get them out of trouble when necessary. He wanted to say something to those bastards too but he knew that if he got too caught up, he wouldn't be able to concentrate on bailing his brothers.

It was when Luffy was scolding the adults that Ace could calm down. Sabo could tell that he wasn't used to this sort of protection and defense from another person but they weren't just nobodies. But the calmness was short-lived when Luffy was pulled into a fight. Ace, naturally, joined in as well and Sabo had to drag the both of them out of it when the officers were about to arrive on the scene. Days went by and they grew closer. The three of them were often under scrutiny but it was often Ace who had gotten the worst of it. Luffy and Sabo had expressed that they didn't care about the people in Goa Kingdom as long as they had each other.

They were close indeed.

"Mmm…" Luffy murmured in thought before grabbing onto Ace's and Sabo's hands. He didn't manage to catch the small blush on Ace's cheek which disappeared as soon as it appeared. "This is really fun, isn't it?"

"Hah?"

"I mean, it's been a long time since the three of us walked together like this. Shishishishi," Luffy snickered.

Sabo chuckled as he could tell what Luffy was trying to do and decided to join in. "Yeah. But hey, we didn't always walk together in this way, did we? We often ended up racing to Dadan's house or beating you up on the way."

"I remember the beating Luffy up part better," Ace said playfully.

"Hey!" Luffy protested and pouted. His brothers were just too strong for him when they were young. "I could definitely win you guys this time! I've gotten a lot more stronger, you know!"

"Right, we'll find out the next time we have another spar," Sabo challenged.

"After we get back on Blue Sea, that is," Ace added in.

Luffy snickered once again and swung both of his hands along with his sworn brothers'. Conis smiled as she watched the three of them interact. It was obvious to anyone how close the three of them are. It made her felt more guilty at the same time as she was leading them to their possible deaths. No, they were absolutely going to die once they were judged and Conis didn't want them to lose their lives to their 'God'. Their relationship with each other was so close that it was really beautiful. It'd be a great loss if Enel were to take it away from them.

Finally, the Angel Port Island came into view.

"We are here," Conis announced and stopped at the entrance.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL**

If a certain two characters were to genderbend…

"And then, there was this guy whom I bumped into at the last town who was really adorable. He asked for my name and started saying how beautiful I was. He was so sweet and nice," Sanjiko said as she giggled at the memory.

Beside her was the infamous Marko the Phoenix. She had a funky type of hairstyle falling on the right side of her face while the left was left bald. Accompanying the half-sleeved purple top which the front was tied to a knot underneath her sizable cleavage, she also wore short pants and sandals with some sort of straw decoration on her left leg. Other than that, she also has the Whitebeard Pirates tattoo on her chest.

"Mmmhmm, that's good," Marko replied while not showing any excitement or interest in the guy who Sanjiko was speaking of. She was more interested in Sanjiko herself and was usually fond of talking with the girl… just not when she was talking about the many guys whom she came to adore after they left a town.

"He also said that I was too pretty to be a pirate. I can't believe such sweet words actually existed. It's too bad that he happened to stay at that town and we wouldn't be visiting it for a long time. I'd like to have a nice chat with the nice boy," Sanjiko continued on.

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Oh, and did you know? He said that he works as a baker. It means that he also must have a good taste for food! It's rare to find guys who bakes or cooks these days other than the chefs on the Baratie. Well, guys who are good-looking, at least."

"That's nice."

"Do you think we'll be returning to the town again? I really want to see his bakery," Sanjiko asked excitedly.

"Yeah, maybe."

_I pity you, Marko, _Ace thought as he tried to stifle a laughter at the sight that he had seen more than n number of times. If Luffy were to talk about someone else like Sanjiko does, Ace was bound to get bonkers. He didn't have as much patience and tolerance as Marko does.

* * *

AHHH! I'm really tempted to write a Fem!MarcoxFem!Sanji fic now Dx I just find these two damn adorable together in their genderbent versions as well. Maybe if I do come up with a fic for them, it'd most likely be AU (still pirates and all but different histories, backgrounds, meetings and adventure). And also add Fem!AcexFem!Luffy as a side. kjkajdkjakadjka I'M SO TEMPTED.

Review, please? :D


	13. Never Judge Someone by Their Appearance

Sorry guys, producing this was much difficult than I expected considering the amount of fics that I've recently started on. I'll still try my best to update as frequent and equally as I could. Dx I feel bad when I leave out one of my stories behind and I'm still feeling remorse over 'Back To The Start', which I had left on a short hiatus until one of my fics is close to an end-I doubt that would ever happen though. I'm just too freaking long winded! QAQ

Just when I thought I could finish this story at Shabaody-I FORGOT ABOUT SABOLAW. OTL -draws circles on floor-

**Mon Esprit Libre: Yes, I'm very tempted. :P**

**alniyat: I'll definitely put more MarcoxSanji in after this arc is finished. For now, I'll be focusing on AcexLuffy more xD Hmm, so far, I only had shipped Marco with either Sanji or Izou. I don't know why but canon pairings really hardly works for me unless it's really special ;x Like, AceLu! There isn't a need to worry for Law. That guy is strong~**

**Miishai: Rushing has never been good for me xD That's why my stories usually took a long time to finish or never completed at all ;x I'm this desperate to finish one of my multi chapter fics. Dx Especially genderbent Marco! There just isn't enough of them! D:**

**anonymous: LOL! The thought just hadn't appeared in his head-or rather, he would push it away even if he did. It's way too fast to be thinking about taking Luffy's virginity away, yo!**

**Maria Rianki: I feel bad for Conis too D: But Luffy would make sure that she wouldn't be harmed either way! :D Ahahaha! I kind of imagined Luffy whipping either Ace, Sabo or Marco once and hence I wrote this scene out. :x That guy is just too funny for this own good. :P**

**I have a weakness towards women who are tougher (not overly violent) and calm. XD And do it! Do a fanart of them! I would love you so much if you did! I attempted one but it looked like crap so I threw it away. OTL Awww, thanks! I've always pictured Ace and Luffy like this ever since they met. I'm just too much of a hardcore shipper xD**

**Naru-Sama: Yeees! No longer alone! Sorry about that, I'll get to Roger's side much later on when he's mentioned in one of the chapters. I just write the One Piece Specials based on what I can think of at the moment. :P **

**10th Squad Third Seat: Poor Sabo indeed xD**

**sakura240: I feel bad for that girl too D: And ahahaha, people seemed to enjoy having Luffy whipping people up :x**

**trisha23flow: Luffy just couldn't give Ace a break xD I'm happy that you're enjoying my story so far and I hope that you will continue to do so! :D**

**azab: True, the arc was pretty slow but at least they provided a good ending for all of us! :3 I liked the Shandians and the weird flying horse thingy too. xD **

**CashyHoray1.00: Thank you and I will! :D**

* * *

The three of them took the scenery into their minds. Ace and Sabo, at least.

Luffy had already ran away from them and towards the gondola which he had always wanted to ride ever since the last time they came here. Conis still looked nervous even as Luffy was expressing his enthusiasm while Ace and Sabo simply followed instructions. Sadly, the boat that Conis was leading to them wasn't the boat that Luffy wanted but the boat which Luffy, Sanji and Usopp had already used before. He had never liked that boring old boat.

Unfortunately, Sanji wasn't here to literally beat sense into Luffy so that guy isn't going to budge unless he gets what he wanted. How did he become the Pirate King again? His brothers wondered as they watched Luffy jumping up and down on the deck of the gondola.

"Luffy, let's go," Ace called out.

"No! I want this one," Luffy insisted stubbornly.

Conis smiled nervously at Luffy's antics. She was trying to find ways to tell him that they can't take the gondola no matter how much he wanted. "Um... but the Karasumasu is equipped with two breath dials and could take you through the Upper Yard. I'm afraid that the gondola would be impossible..." she trailed off.

"Don't be selfish, Luffy. We can't inconvenience people when they're offering help to us," Ace persuaded. "Be good and come over."

Luffy puffed his cheeks at him and still refused to budge, making Sabo and Ace sigh in exasperation. They knew why Luffy didn't like the Karasumasu and if Luffy still disliked it the first time he tried it, then it would be more difficult to get him to cooperate. Sabo looked around to see if there was other alternatives. If they don't do something, Luffy was going to stay here until he was satisfied. For someone who had already been through more than thirty years of his life, he was being ridiculously childish. Even Ace had the manners to take whatever that was being offered to him.

Luffy will always be Luffy, he guessed.

Meanwhile, Conis took the time to settle her accelerating heartbeat. She was feeling so guilty that it was starting to make her feel dizzy. While she had always felt this way whenever she had to lead other dwellers to their fate, it was different this time. It was downright nagging at her to turn back and tell them the truth so that they could escape. Her heart was desperately begging her to change her mind. It was painful.

"Conis?" Sabo called out when he sensed her discomfort. Was it really bothering her that much?

"Y-Yes," Conis replied and mentally berated herself for spacing out. "I apologize but I'm afraid that the gondola is out of the question. It doesn't belong to me and asking for a rent would be quite expensive even for me," she explained.

"Hear that, Lu? The Karo-something doesn't look so bad. Just pretend that it's Marco and it'll be over before we know it."

"But it looks nothing like him," Luffy argued back. "I'd rather ride on Marco's back than that thing!"

"What's the difference? Both of them are birds anyway. Let's call this Kura-something Marco and be on our way. If you aren't going to follow then we're going to leave you behind," Ace threatened.

Luffy whined again before finally getting off the gondola. "Next time," he muttered to the larger ship before making his way to Ace. "That gondola looks so much better..."

"Sorry, Lu but we can't cause anymore trouble for her. I'll make it up for you when we get back, okay? In the meantime, let's get on Marco and head to the Upper Yard," Ace said and ruffled Luffy's unruly hair affectionately. He knew that Luffy would listen.

Conis didn't even want to say anything about re-naming her boat.

Sabo had already long given up.

"I want lots of meat!" Luffy bargained.

Ace rolled his eyes. Why didn't he see this coming? "Yes, I promise."

"For a lifetime?"

"For a week, idiot. We'd go bankrupt if we have to sustain your stomach for a year."

"Wait a minute, /you/ aren't supposed to be saying that!" Sabo exclaimed.

Ace looked at him in irritation. "I don't eat as much as Luffy. At least, I know how to control myself when I'm eating at the Moby Dick or Thousand Sunny. That's one of the reasons why I eat my fill at the restaurants in town. It's free and they never run out of food," Ace explained.

"It's only free because you dine and dash!" Sabo retorted. "And not only that, you even taught Luffy to do it."

"It's not like we can pay for it," Ace argued back.

"Then /control/ yourself and eat in places which you can afford," Sabo shot back.

"What? You're asking me to never get to experience eating till I'm full anymore?"

"But even if we went to places that sells food cheaply, it wouldn't be enough," Luffy pointed out.

"Both of you are just pigs." Sabo sighed, something that he felt like he had been doing way too much in his life, at both of his brothers' behaviors and turned back to Conis. "Thank you for everything up until now. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine," he reassured.

Conis looked at him uncertainly after deciding to forget about the conversation they had. As entertaining as it was, there was more important things for her to trouble over. "Yes... I will pray for your safety," Conis murmured hesitantly while watching the three of them getting onto the boat. She really wanted to call out to them and tell them to change their minds. There was still time. If she could just summon the courage to defy her accursed god and protect the innocent-

"Don't say anything," Luffy warned when he noticed Conis's actions.

"E-Eh?"

"We know," Luffy simply said.

Conis's eyes widened and she was rendered speechless. At that moment, she was sure that Luffy was referring to the issue she was feeling unsettling in her mind. How did he know? It was as though Luffy already realized what she was going to say, word for word. It was a little frightening but Conis couldn't help but feel relieved as well. They were already aware beforehand. Does it mean that they weren't going to die? No one would plan on dying, right? If they already knew this much, things should be alright. Even if Enel was listening to this conversation right now, Conis didn't care. She wouldn't mind being labeled as a criminal for more absurd reasons.

"-that this boat is actually really slow!" Luffy shouted impatiently and started hitting the crow's head. "Hurry up, you!"

...

By the time Conis regained her composure, the boat was already nearing the gate to the Upper Yard.

"Geez, Marco. You're really taking your time," Ace grumbled when they finally rode past the gate.

* * *

"It's kind of cold up here, yoi," Marco remarked to himself after sneezing for the second time that day.

In the meantime, the Thousand Sunny was perched on top of the sacrificial altar.

Sanji was back in the kitchen making lunch for all of them while Marco was surveying they area in the air. Franky was guarding the ship on the deck while Brook was playing the violin and drinking tea. It was just a normal day in a dangerous forest. They knew that someone was going to attack the Thousand Sunny and didn't wander off too far. Or rather, they preferred to stay on the ship to do their own things instead of touring the place. Franky loves his ship, Brook didn't like the sharks that tried to bite his afro off, Sanji needed to cook while Marco had more than enough sense to stay.

"Lunch is ready," Sanji called out and brought out a huge plate. "Roasted Sky Sharks with buttered sauce. We better eat before Luffy comes because there aren't any more Sky Sharks around for me to cook."

"They look really good," Brook commented happily.

"Oi, Marco! Get down and eat," Sanji shouted.

Marco appeared afterwards and landed on the deck as his wings turned back into arms. While he was fighting the sky sharks with Sanji, he saw something moving across the trees and decided to see if he could catch another glimpse of it. He already saw the Upper Ruins and the Giant Jack which Nami had described back in Jaya. At the same time, he also memorized the routes towards the place in case the group happened to separate again. At least, he had to make sure that Sanji doesn't go solo on his own. But after hearing that he had been struck by lightning two times during his previous visit, maybe he'd better be worrying about that instead.

"There isn't anything coming for us so we're safe for the moment," he informed. "I saw some ruins and a giant bean sprout ahead of us. We should get there after meeting up with the three of them. Let's try not to separate by then, yoi. "

"Don't worry about it. Even if we did get separated, it wouldn't make much of a difference," Sanji reassured.

"You're way too easy-going, yoi."

"And you, think too much. Here you go." Sanji handed Marco's plate to him.

"Yeah. There won't be a problem at all," Franky reassured and drank his cola. "We get separated most of the time and ended up pretty okay. And I have to tell you that having all of us walking around together is a pretty rare thing."

Brook took a bite out of the sky shark and decided to give his opinion. "I need to fart."

That earned him a kick from Sanji. "Do it somewhere else other than the table!"

"Oh! How harsh, Sanji-kun!" Brook cried out.

"This seemed pretty old," Marco commented while looking over the writings on the Sacrificial Altar.

"Can you read it?" Sanji inquired.

"The words are pretty worn out, yoi. I can read ancient language but not as good as your archeologist."

"I heard that there wasn't many people who could read it other than Robin. She was from Ohara which had been destroyed by the World Government twenty years ago," Franky informed.

Marco nodded. "I heard about that, yoi. The World Government didn't want them to pry too much into history. I traveled to Ohara a few times and read many books. A lot more books than your archeologist did considering how long I've lived. However, unlike her, I don't read solely on History."

"'How long I've lived'-I've been meaning to ask you this but how old are you anyway?" Franky asked.

The blonde raised an eyebrow at the question and counted off his hands. "I was already a long time before you guys were born, except for Brook of course. I just stopped counting after fifty, yoi."

"Fifty?!"

"You don't look fifty at all," Sanji commented.

"My devil fruit ability also gives me a longer life span. People thinks that I'm immortal but my time just moves a lot slower than everyone's, yoi."

"Ah... so you're an old man too," Brook remarked slowly while feeling glad that he wasn't the only old one in the group. Previously, he could only have chats like this with Whitebeard but he didn't know that Marco was almost the same too.

"I wouldn't call myself an old man..."

"You've been a Whitebeard Pirates Commander for more than fifty years then?" Franky questioned.

"Not exactly. I joined them somewhere around thirty years ago? Or was it forty. I can't remember much. It wasn't very important detail anyway, yoi."

"So what have you been doing before you joined? What about your family?" Sanji asked.

Marco chuckled and shook his head. "That isn't a topic that I would want to bring up. Anyway, Whitebeard is my only pops now so I don't dwell too much in the past, yoi. There are way too much stuffs for me to remember anyway and I have to deal with Ace's antics all the time."

And watching Sanji at the same time but the cook wouldn't know that.

After awhile, they decided to drop the topic but the surprise still hadn't worn off from their mind yet. It was kind of mind-boggling to know that Marco had been this old. They didn't ask this sort of question before because they judged his age on his appearance and sadly, they were very wrong. In addition, Marco was more reserved in the previous life so the Strawhat Pirates, other than Luffy and Sanji, didn't get to interact with him much. Luffy wasn't the kind to ask common sense questions while Sanji wouldn't start diving into other people's information unless they happened to be beautiful girls.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

"And today we have..." A pair of arms flew behind Marko and wrapped itself around her chest. "D-cups! You crazy woman, you never stop growing."

"Damn it, Anne! Stop. Groping. Me!" Marko snapped and threw her overboard and shook her head.

She had to deal with this. Every single day. For some reason, Anne had turned into some sort of groping monster just because her chest wasn't growing as much as she wanted to. It was pretty flat considering how big her little sister, Luffyko had grown but it was no reason to be grabbing /Marko's/ boobs. What was she expecting from doing so anyway? For her own chest to grow a cup?

Marko decided to forget about it while adverting her gaze back onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny where Sanjiko was lecturing Luffyko again.

"Stop being so damn choosy! You can't eat vegetables for your whole shitty life and fight like a machine gun! You need protein and calcium, you damned idiot," Sanjiko snapped while was feeling really close to delivering a kick to the oblivious girl's head. "From now on, don't even try to sneak the meat to Cherry. If I don't see you eating something different, I'll shove seafood into your mouth!"

**Marko's imagination**

"Jeez! You always insist on doing whatever you want!" Sanjiko puffed out the right side of her cheek and crossed her arms over her chest in a childish manner. There was a cute blush on each side of her cheeks and her eyebrows were furrowed. "I'm being really worried about you even though you don't listen to what I say. Meat is good for you and you have it eat it as much as you eat vegetables. If you continue to misbehave like this, I'm really going to get mad, okay?"

**End of Marko's imagination**

_That was pretty cute... _Marko thought.

"Tch. Can you believe that girl?" Sanjiko grumbled as she walked up to Marko. "I don't get why she insists on eating nothing but vegetables. Making her eat meat is as difficult as getting Anne not to sleep on my damn food. I've never dealt with such a difficult person in my life. Damn it, I have to keep a closer eye on that brat before she skips out on more essential nutrients."

**Marko's imagination. **

Sanjiko ran up the Moby Dick and stopped in front of Marko. Both of her hands were balled up into fists and was held right beneath her chin. Her eyebrows were still furrowed and the cute blush remained while droplet of tears formed at the corner of her eyes. "Ne, Marko! Listen to this! Luffyko wouldn't eat her food again. She is just like her older sister sometimes. I'm so tired of looking after her already, jeez but I just can't leave her like this..."

**End of Marko's imagination**

"Marko?" Sanjiko called out.

Marko immediately snapped out of her thoughts and regarded Sanjiko with her usual calm expression. "It'll work out." _This girl is just god damn adorable..._

Sanjiko looked at her skeptically. "I really doubt so..."

* * *

Finally, I'm done with this chapter! My hands are feeling really stiff right now xD Review, please? ;D


	14. Marco Is Way More Useful Than That

I have really outdone myself. Four chapters within a day. I was kind of taking a break from writing a few days ago because I was busy brooding. Ahem, it kind of happens at times and when I start, I go about how much my life sucks-anyway, with the emo suffs aside now, enjoy the next chapter!

**anonymous: It's alright! My hands hands kind of gets that way when I write too much in a cold room... like how it's now. ;x Maybe one day when Luffy finally does something that will make Ace mistake it as sexual then he might just pounce on that lovable guy. How else would he be able to tolerate it for years? :D**

**Maria Rianki: Apparently. I was pretty amused at that to. I never did remember how they got the ship off but I'll just go along with my own versions for this fic. There is only so much four person could do, after all. Yeah, it's sort of how Luffy does his things. It looked like as though he didn't do it on purpose but who knows what's really going through his mind? :P**

**Miishai: He had lived for that long. There was no reason to still dwell on it if he knows he's going to be doing it for the next ten sets of decade. :P It's sort of how I pictured the Special! in my head anyway. I don't know, all of the specials are the images that came up to my head in random.**

**Mittens919: I'll get to that part as soon as I can. D: I'm sorry for the long wait. OTL**

**alniyat: It would be enough to send me committing suicide out of bankruptcy. LOL! I'm glad that you liked my updates. 8'D It's comments like this which give me this warm fuzzy feeling-enough with the sap. Anyway, I have to admit that I enjoy writing those Specials more than the arc itself. XD Vegetables part? You meant when Luffyko kept eating vegetables? It's stated that genderbent!Luffy would rather eat salad than Luffy, who prefers meat. :3 And as for Law, somewhere at the end of the Skypeia arc, I think. :3~ He'll be safe, no worries!**

**azab: I got your PM! xD Thanks and I'm glad that you liked it!**

**Naru-Sama: It's just a recent interest of mine. :P Sadly, I would like to continue it but I don't keep my Specials consistent o3o I'm sorry, I'll get to 'Back To The Start' as soon as I could! D:**

**ASLfangirl: I just enjoy torturing that guy. I can understand why Thatch and Ace has fun with it. xD I'll get back to that fic as soon as I can. D: I'm still working my way out of the annoying procrastination I tend to have. Anyway, I have a bigger plot planned out for it and it's part of the reason for the wait. ;x**

**sakura240: Well, yeah. If you start counting from the fact that he was already a Whitebeard Pirate for more than 20 years and he looked pretty... 20 plus-ish at that time? It'd be around forty so I just rounded things up. LOL! **

* * *

Last time we left our three brothers, they were heading towards the entrance of the Upper Yard on the Marcomobile.

Because the journey was being needlessly long this time, Luffy had already fallen asleep. Right now, he was sitting on Ace's lap while his cheek rested itself on the freckled teen's shoulder. Sabo had to sigh at the both of them. When Luffy wasn't entertained, he'd either find something to entertain himself while getting one of the people around him (including himself) almost killed or simply fall asleep. Ace, on the other hand, would never fall asleep on boredom. He'd either be setting things on fire or fall asleep because of his _narcolepsy. _

The blonde had never felt so lonely in his life.

Come to think of it, they hadn't established who would be the oldest, right? It's a no-brainer that Luffy would be the youngest so he's out. If Sabo had a say in it then he would declare himself as oldest. There was no way in hell that Ace, the spawn of insanity, would take up the role of the big brother. Sabo would sooner turn in his resignation letter for the brotherhood than stand for it. Because he could only imagine what would happen if Luffy and Sabo were to follow _his_ orders.

Chaos. Chaos everywhere.

So that was that. Sabo will be the oldest among the three. Glad that he got that out of the way.

Oh look, they're almost at the entrance already!

When the Marcomobile passed through, something huge suddenly came out of nowhere. A freaking giant ball. Usopp had told him many times about the dangers in Upper Yard but he had never elaborated well on it. Sabo knew better than to buy it when Usopp started talking about how he took out a giant whale by his own.

Looking at the brothers, they were still asleep.

"Troublesome idiots," Sabo grumbled and took out his bo staff. He tapped it at the bottom of the enormous ball before leading it off their paths.

Next one, multiple knives were shooting in their direction.

Spinning the woodened staff in his hand, Sabo deflected the knives that were about to plunge in their skins. Oops, the Marcomobile got injured. Oh well, we can't do everything on our own. Sabo shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the next obstacle in their way.

A swinging scythe hanging upside down.

Sabo extended the bo staff and rammed it against the tree for the Marcomobile to move away from the swinging weapon.

He was glad that Dragon had taught him so much on survival skills. With a son like Luffy, you'd have to expect a dad to be knowledgeable about unexpected things heading your way, no matter how stupid they may sound. He did once mention that it was because of Roger that he started those training programmes but you can never be too sure. Luffy might as well surpass Roger himself when it comes to stupidity. If only Dragon was here, Sabo could resume their argument on who was being more like an idiot: Gol D. Roger or Monkey D. Luffy. The debate had never ended even till they were all reborn.

But if Sabo had to end it, he'd just have to mention Ace and the case would be closed. It'd be no fun though.

"Hey, we're almost there. Wake up," Sabo demanded and hit Ace over the head with the bo staff. He is smart enough not to let Luffy choose the path to their deaths. "We're nearing the four smaller entrances. I've been hearing some voices but I think it's just Luffy farting again."

"Mmmm? Damn, I fell asleep again," Ace grumbled and rubbed the back of his head. "So fast? What happened to those things that were supposed to get in our way?"

"I cleared them all off while you were sleeping," Sabo said in a matter of fact tone.

"Bastard, you didn't leave some for me," Ace grumbled.

Sabo shrugged at him. "You and Luffy were asleep so I thought that I'd let you guys dream longer. Besides, I couldn't have the time to do so when a flying object was about to hit us to our deaths," he pointed out. "By the way, I'm so the oldest brother here."

"No, you aren't! I'm the oldest one here," Ace argued back.

"Leave your protests to someone who could make a change." Before Ace could protest, Sabo held up a hand to stop him. "We're really nearing the four entrances now. It'd be a good time to choose our paths. If you're not going to do it then talk to the hand."

"Asshole," Ace muttered and shifted his gaze to the words on top of the caves.

Ordeal of Balls. Ordeal of Iron. Ordeal of String. Ordeal of Swamp.

"What about 'Balls'?"

"Depending on the reason why you chose that, I may or may not throw you off this boat."

Ace scoffed at him. "I'm just too lazy to choose something else. Why not let Luffy choose something instead?"

"No way. I value my life more than you two."

"Right, you're just being a scardey cat," Ace mumbled and returned to his choices. "How about the Ordeal of Iron? Sounds tough enough."

"I told you-"

"Alright, iron it is," Ace cut him off cheerfully and steered the Marcomobile to the entrance.

Sometimes, Sabo wished that he hadn't overestimated Ace's thinking abilities.

While the Marcomobile was sailing in a dark cave, Sabo had to wonder if they really made a good choice? What if they ended up with something stupid like falling off the island or something? Sabo shook his head at the thought. Nah, something like that couldn't possibly happen. The ordeals were named for a reason and if there really was such a thing, there would be an Ordeal of Dropping instead. Although... Luffy would most likely take that the completely wrong way and insisted on going through that ordeal. Luckily for his teammates, it didn't so they were saved from the falling.

When the light finally shone, signaling that they were at the end of the cave, Sabo looked around at his surroundings. Needless to say, his eyes were bulging out when he saw that there really was an ordeal that leads downwards.

"Luckily we didn't take that one," Ace said and motioned over to the path.

That was weird. Usopp didn't include that in the story. Was he planning for them to drop from the sky? That long nosed idiot!

"Right. Knowing Luffy, he'd definitely pick that one if he were awake. This guy has the worst luck in making choices," Sabo mumbled.

"Hey, Luffy. Wake up, we're almost there now," Ace called out and shook Luffy awake.

Luffy murmured something incoherent before his eyes slowly opened. He sat up from Ace's shoulder, rubbed his eyes and looked around his surroundings. They are finally in the Upper Yard! Just how long did they sleep anyway? Upon closer inspection, he found that they were heading towards something that looked like a cage with a beansprout in the middle. Seriously, just how long did they sleep? Back in the time they first landed here, Luffy had to get eaten by a giant snake first before he could get to have a glance at the beansprout.

"You guys fought without me?" Luffy complained increduously.

"I did deflect those swinging weapons at the entrance if you count that in," Sabo offered. "Ace chose the Ordeal of Iron for us and luckily he did or else we might have a chance in falling to our deaths. I'd rather die in battle than a pansy fall."

"Maybe it's because only you would die of fright," Ace teased.

"But I wanted to try falling again! It was scary but it was also kind of fun," Luffy said.

"No, Lu. Not today. You can try asking Marco anytime though. When he wasn't kicking me off the ship, he'd drop me into the water from high up in the sky," Ace suggested helpfully, which made Luffy's eyes sparkle in excitement. Oops. "Speaking of Marco, I wished the real person would be here instead. This Marcoboat is drifting too slowly for my liking. At least the guy could fly."

"Wouldn't it be difficult for me to carry all three of us? I doubt that he'd do that even if he could," Sabo pointed out.

Ace waved his hand and laughed. "I'm not thinking about that. I'm saying that we could tie a rope around him and the boat so that he could pull us. It sounds really hilarious but it'd still work," he mused.

"I still think that he'd sooner drop you off this island than listen to you," Sabo insisted.

"He may be a prick but he's a lovable prick. Anyway," Ace said pointedly in a way that was like, 'I'm not just going to suck it up and lose this argument that I started because I'm obviously the oldest brother' to 'I'm changing the subject so you're going to change it with me'. "Good morning, Lu."

Sabo had nothing more to add after that.

* * *

Back to where our four heroes are faring.

Apparently, Sanji took this time to remind everyone that the three brothers wouldn't be heading their way. At first, he wasn't aware of it until Marco reminded him that there was only one path towards the sacrificial altar. And judging from the map that they had graciously gotten from another one of Enel's minions who chose to attack their ship, it didn't seem that this place was very... conveniently built for them. Sanji could understand though since he had always thought that there has to be a reason why maps where lying around after all of the ordeals were playing dead. Never mind Zoro, if you're a person living in this place for more than eight years, there had to be something wrong if you still needed a map to hold your hands around.

Oh, it looked like Thousand Sunny is ready to set sail.

"It's up to you now, Marco," Sanji called out from the deck.

Marco, on the other hand, didn't share the enthusiasm.

Their grand idea of getting the Thousand Sunny off was to tie a around Marco's waist and the ship so that he could pull it off the altar. Everyone knew that Marco was a force to be reckoned with and a man gone through many proud battles. He assisted Whitebeard in getting revenge on Gol D. Roger for his mustache and came out as one of the criminals who had a bounty higher than Roger's son. It earned him a good place in the world, alright but sadly, the place didn't leave out the option of him being an air horse. And because it was Sanji who forc-requested him to do so, he was whipped.

"I still don't like the idea, yoi," Marco grumbled. This idea sounded like what Ace would come up with.

"Good luck, brother," Franky called out. "Oh, and try to do it as gently as possible, alright?"

"You realize that I can't control a lot of things when I have to pull this thing off an altar and onto a limited space of water, right?"

"Just try your best. Heck, make sure that nothing happens to it. I don't really care about anything else but I don't want Thousand Sunny to get hurt. It's my precious baby and I'd feel really sad if it were to get scratched. I'm telling ya first, you do not want a sad Franky onboard."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Why don't you marry the ship if you love it so much, yoi."

"I plan on doing so."

"Hey! Get on pulling already," Sanji shouted impatiently.

Marco closed his eyes and tried not to imagine how he looked at the moment. This is really degrading. For some reason, Sanji seemed to like being a sadist and treated Marco as a masochist. It also didn't help that their names started off with the same two letters as the two terms. Was it fate? Or maybe it was what Marco had gone through which made him into such a person. Damn, and he thought he hid it well too.

Oh right, back to the tugging.

Despite his previous embarrassments about it, one tug was all it took for Thousand Sunny to slam right onto the... uh, clouds of sea.

"My baby, you made it!" Franky exclaimed and kissed Thousand Sunny, totally disregarding the person who should take the proper credit. But Marco would rather that than having Franky kissing him though.

"I'm never going to do that again, yoi," Marco muttered as he landed nicely onto the deck and untied the rope around his waist.

Sanji chuckled and patted his back. "Now we know who to look for when our ships gets stuck in a high place. It happens often so you might want to consider making this a service," he mused.

"You can't be serious." He could imagine Ace laughing his ass off already. Marco, the air horse express.

"I'm kidding but when it really happens..." Sanji trailed off thoughtfully while Marco's face was starting to lose his color. "I'll get you more desserts."

"It's not going to tempt me," he insisted stubbornly.

"Or maybe something else that would show my appreciation," Sanji finished off with a wink.

Marco didn't have to be an idiot to catch what Sanji might be implying. For a moment there, a nice color of red found it's way to his cheeks while his mind was even more confused at his change of behavior. Sanji, on the other hand, found the color on Marco's cheeks quite amusing and had to give himself a pat on the back. He knew that Ace's notes on making Marco squirmy had worked. While aside from that, he couldn't resist himself from doing what he was going to do next.

"What are you thinking about? I meant this," he said coolly and gave Marco a peck on the cheek.

Later, Sanji was starting to worry when a very red Marco didn't move for five minutes.

* * *

**One Piece Special!**

While our four heroes were thinking of a way to move the ship, Sanji heard a voice in his mind. It sounded strangely like Ace but the voice suggested a very good idea. He couldn't resist it, naturally, and went to pull Marco aside so that he could discuss it with him privately. Of course, Marco will be the important part of this idea. Marco was confused as to why he was the only one being pulled away but didn't protest much... until Sanji told him what the idea was.

"I can't do it, yoi," Marco insisted for the seventh time that hour. Sanji was persistent but so was he.

"It's the only way I could think off and we need to get out of here as soon as we could," Sanji argued back. "I promise that this won't reach Ace's ears." But note that he didn't say anything about Luffy.

Marco continued to stand his ground and deliver the best arguing line ever. "I'm not doing it, yoi."

Sanji had to sigh when Marco still didn't budge. Hmm... oh, that's that strange voice again. It seemed to help him whenever there was a potential to make Marco squirm in embarrassment for some odd reason but Sanji wasn't complaining much. The advice this time was kind of weird but it also kind of made sense.

"You happen to like your devil fruit abilities, do you?" Sanji asked.

"I guess so?" Marco replied, not sure of what to feel about the strange question.

"I do too," Sanji admitted. He moved closer until he was right beside Marco and reached out his hand to scratch him lightly under his chin. To his delight, Marco responded just as he expected. The infamous Marco the Phoenix, was blushing really hard while a few moans escaped his throat despite how hard he was trying to hold them back. "To add on, Sanji started to pat the back of his head and the blush grew. There was always a reason why Marco didn't like simply anyone doing that. "You're going to help us out, right?"

Marco bit his lip and nodded.

"Great! I'll let everyone else know. Thanks a lot. We really owe you one," Sanji said and gave him a final pat before strolling towards the others.

The phoenix could only rest his forehead on his hand in dread.

He was fucking whipped.

* * *

Sorry if the MarcoxSanji came out a bit too sudden. xD Let me knows if it's weird and I'll try to do something about it pronto. :3 Anyway, I always had a feeling that Marco would be a masochist type after going through what Thatch and Ace had been pulling on him. xD He's still not going to be bottom though!

Finally, the fourth chapter is done! The author is going to declare her break from now on. See you guys in about 70 years or so!

/gets beaten up

I-I'm sorry, I was just kidding about that. TT A TT -Bows-

One special note for everyone. Uh, I have to admit that I royally suck ass at writing battle scenes. One vs one was already tough for me so I'm trying not to imagine a 3 characters vs a few characters vs 1 character. It'd be great if one of you could step out and help me write the battle scenes for later on. Naturally, it'd speed up the update process because this author just suck being fast at what she does worst. Dx Credits will also be given to you at the start and end of the chapter. LOL! I don't know, I might even let you request a oneshot? I'll give it a go. :x Just state in your review or PM me and we can get things started! ;D

Review, yeah?


	15. Highly Love Content and Meeting Ohms

Sorry for the epic-ally long wait! I was really struggling to come up with battle scenes but ended up losing every words in my small dictionary. TTATT Kind of wrote this while I was sneezing too. Damn, this is a bad time to have a nose block. ;A;

14k views 8'D This story has really came a long way! I felt like only recently when I posted the suggestion to have a MarcoxSanji pairing in this fic and was so delighted when everyone didn't have a problem with it! :D

**Maria Rianki: It's alright. I've decided on what to do in the end :DD**

**I hope it isn't too weird though but if it is, I'll go back and edit it right away! xD I have to admit that it was really kind of unexpected too. Ahahahaha, my humor had been failing me recently due to some outside problems but I still try to not to let it hinder with my writing. It always cheers me up when I'm writing about my favourite pairing. \o/**

**Pokabu: I can't say that I have enough attention span to stay at a document to edit. 8'D That's why I try to be super careful while I write instead so that I don't make too many mistakes.**

**Hahahaha! And yeah, it wouldn't be the same if they wouldn't argue. :P Sabo definitely takes the oldest brother title imo. He's way too... sensible and saner than the both of them. xD**

**Sanji has a playful side too but he mostly shows it to females. But then again, as long it's someone he likes and hadn't done anything to offend him, it's part of his okay list. :3**

**alniyat: I do admit that my brain does get a little random from time to time. xD I usually don't think much when I type since whatever I can think about that could make the scene go along smoothly, I just write it down. Or else, I'd just rethink about it. :x**

**Don't worry, I'm not going to prolong it any longer. D I shall start taking action and make the both of them a couple or else I'm going to start ripping my hair off xD**

**It's alright! I found a solution to my problem-I think. :x**

**trisha23flow: Thank you! I'm happy to know that I've gained another supporter! xD And no, I doubt I will be able to fit her in the plot at this point of time. D:**

**Guest: Ahahahaha! He prolly will not. xP**

**azab: Thank you! And things are starting to go along smoothly. ;P**

**anonymous: I can see him getting whipped by Sanji more than Sanji does by girls. xP Thank you :D**

**Naru-Sama: I'm probably a person that has never experienced real stress xD I'm pretty lax and I don't think that's a good thing. :X I keep procrastinating for god's sake!**

**ASLfangirl: He's my most favourite character to torture xD Idk, it's kind of fun because he's sane. xD**

**twilightserius: Thank you! :D**

**Red-The-Drawing-Ninja: Thank you! And yeah! I would love to be in Sabo's place any time. xD I understand that it can come off as weird since they didn't really interacted in the anime. I just found similarities between them and thought that it might work a bit. :33**

**Innocent Law: Everyone enjoys watching him squirm 8'D**

**xxxWhite-Wing13xxx: Yes, he is! xD**

* * *

The Thousand Sunny continued to sail along the cloud slash sea after our heroe-Marco removed it from the sacrificial altar.

Sanji couldn't help but feel that things were really going differently this time.

Even though all of them already have an idea of what was happening, it would be nice to hear from Gan Fall himself. Since they proved that they were more than capable of taking care of themselves, Gan Fall didn't need to rush to their aid. Whether Gan Fall will participate in the battle this time, none of them know. But it was clear that he was needed if they wanted to make the whole thing work. Perhaps it would they would blow this whistle much later on when they encounter Enel. It would give him a good reason to rush over, at least.

Without Sabo or Nami, it was difficult to navigate without having Marco flying above the ship to make sure that they were on the right route. Enel must be picking his nose instead of wondering how they managed to survived by now. And it may sound crazy but Sanji could feel a storm coming.

"A cup of tea in Sky Island is wonderful indeed."

It was nice to know that there was someone who wasn't concerned about anything at all.

"We just have to keep going straight without making any turns and we should be there. I haven't seen Ace and his brothers anywhere so my best guess would be that they must be where we're heading towards now, yoi," Marco informed after landing on the deck for the nth time.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was true," Sanji replied. "And we're really taking own sweet time, aren't we?"

"The winds aren't in our favor this time, I'm afraid. And I'm not going to waste any cola and risk Thousand Sunny in such a narrow path," Franky replied.

Sanji rolled his eyes and shook his head. It wouldn't matter much anyway. Whether they get there in time or not, Ace, Luffy and Sabo are bound to kick Enel's ass together anyway. Enel seemed pretty insistent in playing his game by his rules. And judging by the screams from the other side of the forest, the Shandians must've arrived. Either they have great timing or the reason why they participated in the battle last time was because of the Strawhat Pirates's arrival. Either way, it hadn't hinder their plans in saving the whole Sky Island yet. The only trouble might begin if Enel discovered their knowledge.

And Sanji prayed that Luffy's mouth had been kept shut this whole time. That guy could blabber about the most important thing in the worst situation.

If his hunches were right, Ace might do the same thing too.

His only hope now was Sabo. Out of the three, the blonde was certainly the sanest and the most responsible one among them. Not being bias towards hair colors but so far Marco, Sabo and Sanji proved to be able to handle situations carefully or at least, try not to put anyone in danger and cared for their situations right now.

"Are you worried, yoi?"

"Was that obvious?"

"It was," Marco confirmed. "You looked like you were going to break your cigarette in half."

Sanji looked down at the bent cigarette in his hand and laughed offhandedly. "Right. I guess I was. I'm not worried for our idiot captain though," he clarified. "I'm worrying about all of us who might go to hell because of him."

"We'll manage somehow, yoi," Marco reassured.

"It's true that we always get out of messes one way or another," Sanji said with a weary grin. "I'm not too troubled this time though. All of us are guys and we aren't putting Conis-chan in danger... I hope."

"I see. You're protective of girls, aren't you?"

"It's natural for a gentleman to make sure that a girl's safety come first."

"Just that, yoi?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"It's nothing much actually. Since you looked more energized when you're with girls, haven't you thought of settling down with one, yoi?" Maro asked.

Sanji shrugged his shoulders. "To me, beautiful girls are fantastic and wonderful. It's like when Luffy sees a meat, you know? But I don't plan on eating them, of course. I respect them," he said before his eyes became hearts. "But it would be wonderful if I could end up in Nami-swan's body for a day~"

That would be one painful dream, Marco thought.

"And besides, it's difficult to pay attention to one thing when you notice someone has been staring," Sanji remarked, propping his elbow onto the railing and leaned the side of his head against his hand. "I've been noticing ever since some time after we first met, you gave me quite a lot of weird looks. Did I do anything?"

Marco's glanced away, wasn't sure if he should answer the question honestly. He was pretty sure that he had been discreet but the Strawhat Pirates are sharper than people usually gave them credit for. First Robin and Zoro, then Luffy and here Sanji himself even noticed it. Marco didn't mean to stare and didn't want to seem perverted for doing so but it was difficult to pull his eyes away immediately after Sanji came into his view. He was always making different kinds of faces.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Can you be a little more specific?"

"It's not really my place to say anything, yoi." Then, he paused for a bit. "Regardless whether it is or not, it's something I want to keep to myself. I don't wish to trouble anyone of it."

"You think too much. It's really uncomfortable not knowing what you are being stared for, you know."

"I'll stop, yoi."

"I'm not saying that it's creepy but even I get curious. I really want to know and I want to hear it from you. Why do you keep looking in my way? Why not others?"

Marco sighed. This guy is really persistent too but it wasn't anything he didn't expect from Luffy's crew. "You're different, yoi. The way I think of you isn't the same. I couldn't pull away, yoi."

"Hmm," Sanji murmured as he continued to observe the man. For an awkward topic like this one, Marco was still able to keep his cool. But if Marco hadn't, Sanji wouldn't be this calm too. "Do you like me?" he asked, not bothering to beat around the bush this time and it wasn't as though he hadn't thought of this possibility before.

"What if I said 'yes'?"

"Then kiss me."

Marco looked up at him, clearly taken aback by his request. "What?"

"I said, kiss me," Sanji repeated. "It should be fine, right? I have a feeling that if you do, everything will become much clearer. That's all I am asking of you for now." He grabbed onto the hem of Marco's shirt and tugged it towards him, showing that he wasn't going to back out of his own request.

"But-"

"I'm not going to ask you again," he said firmly while keeping his gaze locked onto Marco.

"Sanji," Marco murmured his name and shook his head. "I don't want you to pity me, yoi."

"I'm not pitying you. I didn't ask you to do this just because I'm forcing myself to. I'm not that kind of guy who would make someone confess and kiss them out of pity. I am asking you because I want the damn kiss too."

Marco looked at him intensely. "Are you sure?"

When Sanji nodded, Marco decided not to try and deny his request anymore. It was just a kiss, right? Even if Sanji couldn't return his feelings in the end, he wouldn't hold it against him too. To be honest, Marco wanted this even longer than Sanji did.

He placed his hands on Sanji's shoulder to pull him forward and pressed his lips against his. As Marco pushed against Sanji's lips, he found this to be more addicting and pleasant than just viewing him from afar. Being able to hold him close and kissing him is starting to make his affections towards Sanji sky into a whole new world. He wanted to utter the words, 'I love you' so badly but he had to hold himself back and reminded himself not to become too emotionally attached.

When the both of them parted their lips, Marco was surprised when Sanji initiated the kiss this time.

The blonde cook couldn't explain it well. The kiss made everything clear all of a sudden. The feelings that had been forced to remain shallow for awhile due to his denials and unsureness are pushing past his walls and surfacing.

Each kiss is begging for another.

Finally, Sanji rested his forehead against Marco's shoulder after they separated from their last kiss.

"I like you too," he murmured.

Marco remained silent after that. He was struggling to find words to say. Despite his still calm exterior, he was dealing with a huge turmoil inside of him. He may have doubts about Sanji reciprocating his feelings, he couldn't deny the fact that he also had this tiny hope that it will be requited. He knew of this possibility but he pushed it away due to the many stupid reasons he came up.

"Marco?" Sanji called out.

"I... don't know. Are you sure, yoi?" he asked for the second time this day. "I'm a lot older than you. A lot older."

Sanji laughed and lifted his head up from his shoulder. "Are you serious? You're worrying about /that/?" Sanji asked while giving him an amused look. "You're really shitty hilarious. And no, I don't care about that."

"I'm still surprised that you're returning my feelings. Give me a break, yoi," Marco joked.

"I wasn't sure at first. When I noticed that you had been looking in my way, I started to wonder. Embarrassingly enough, the first thought that came to my mind was that you might have... liked me. But it was also the possibility that I dismissed the quickest. As I started to wonder more, I noticed you more too and... the feelings just developed from there. It's weird at first," Sanji admitted. "I thought that I liked girls but... I also realized that I could never settle with one on romantic terms."

"What about your crewmates, yoi? Have you ever felt anything for them?"

"I once liked Zoro but the feelings didn't last. I completely didn't understand it because we tend to fight a lot. When I couldn't figure it out in the end, I stopped by distracting myself and the unexplainable feelings were gone after time," Sanji replied. "You're different. I didn't hold myself back from noticing you more. It felt... right."

"I'm not good at sharing, yoi," Marco warned.

Sanji raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "Getting jealous? Don't worry, Zoro will always be a shitty marimo."

Marco chuckled and accepted the answer nonetheless. No matter what kind of feelings Sanji had for another, Marco felt assured by his words. Many people didn't think that he would be the sensitive kind since he was known to have to tolerate a lot. It was rare for him to lose his composure and the only time that happened was when Whitebeard's life was at stake. He protected the crew well and he needed to keep his calm exterior up in order to assure them.

Except, there are some who took it as an okay to continue pranking him.

"I might be but I don't want you to treat anyone differently because of my opinions too."

"You're way too easy going. I'd flip a table or two if someone were to try anything funny with you. Unless they happened to be girls... but I'll let them know that you're mine too," Sanji teased.

"Your temper wasn't the best, I realized," Marco commented and placed his hand on the top of his head. "I'm already physically ancient so I've tolerated a lot than I used to be able to."

"It must be fate that I have a shitty saint as my other half." Sanji grinned and kissed his cheek.

* * *

The Marcomobile finally arrived at it's destination and the three brothers got off in order to explore the temple.

They were glad that they chose the Ordeal of Iron seeing that it brought them to where they wanted to go from the beginning. If they had chose the others, no doubt that they would have to go through a lot of walking to get them to this place. On the other hand, Sabo had a feeling that this one will be the toughest among all. It's nonsense to place the easiest ordeal in the most important place of this island.

"Welcome to the Ordeal of Iron. My name is Ohm," Ohm introduced from above their heads, making the three brothers directing their attention towards him. "Mortals are foolish creatures. Life is nothing but a dream and yet they're in a hurry to die in battle. They live for prosperity. They fought and died for it. Wouldn't it be better if they hadn't done anything? All the contradictions with their principles... the sorrow... The only way for them to attain salvation... is for them to just die."

"What is he saying?" Luffy asked and stuck his finger into his nose.

"Ignore him, Lu. He just finished his dinner."

"Why are you here?" Ohm asked.

"To find a certain treasure," Sabo replied.

Ohm's face darkened at that and he took out his sword. "Then allow me to save you."

He leaped from his position and swung his sword towards the three brothers. Before he could touch one of their side's, they had already jumped away from their previous spots and avoided getting sliced. Ohm expected that he wouldn't be able to strike all of them that easily. He straightened his body posture and lifted his sword from the ground.

"Not bad."

"You'd have to be an idiot if you think you can take us down with that," Ace taunted.

"Of course not. I will expect that saving all of you will not be that easy."

"Save us? We're not in trouble," Luffy said.

Ohm chuckled darkly. "Oh but you will be."

The rumble behind Ace suddenly shook and accompany a huge blast, the little rumbles were sent flying from its still state. Behind him, a huge ferocious looking animal stared down at him as it swiped it's sharp nails onto the seemingly unsuspecting teen. Ace foresaw it and was able to dodge before it could land a hit.

"Not survivable, the sorrowful way... with 0% survival rate, this is the Ordeal of Iron!"

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

The day the Strawhat Pirates crew met Cherish Tsukiko brought along many surprises.

First of all, it was thanks to her that Ace survived the battle in Marineford. She was the 17th commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and lead them to victory. Ace, Luffy and her are known to be childhood friends and sworn siblings with them along with Sabo.

According to Ace, Cherish was traveling alone after escaping from her family until she was brought to Dandan's hut by Garp. Her parents despised her and often abused her in order to test the limits of her powers. She has a special ability that wasn't from a devil's fruit. Cherish was born with that ability, which allowed her to turn her emotions into different forms of power. Not only that, she could call forth the Sea Kings to her will but when she does, damage will occur to her physical body.

Her parents were hungry power seekers and heads to the Tsukiko clan that was famous for its influence in the whole world. The townspeople knew how powerful they were so they didn't interfere with what they were doing until one fateful day, they conspired with Cherish's other four siblings to release Cherish from her prison.

Basically, a mary-sue.

And she was hooked onto Ace. Naturally, her feelings had to be returned along with a few more thousands other people awaiting for her presence with an engagement ring in their hands.

"We have to stop this," Nami said.

"Stop what?" Luffy asked and munched on his meat.

Nami rolled his eyes and slapped her forehead. "That girl!"

"What's wrong with Cherish? She's nice!"

"Never mind. You don't have to understand anything," Nami said and placed her hands on her hips. "Say, I need you to do something for me. Ask Ace if he likes Cherish. Don't say anything else other than that! In return, I'll ask Sanji to cook for you a large extra portion of meat."

"Meat! I want!"

Robin chuckled and looked at Nami in amusement. "I get it."

Nami smirked back at Robin before turning back to Luffy. "I want you to ask him now. Oh, and before you leave..." Nami reached her hand towards the basket and grabbed a few onions.

…

While Ace was talking to Cherish, like what he does most of the time, he didn't notice Luffy until he stood in front of him. The guy always used the weirdest way to ask a question or interrupt a conversation. However, Ace was really shocked when Luffy looked at him with puffy red eyes and even more so when a sob escaped from his lips.

"A-Ace... d-do you like Cherish...?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes in an adorable fashion. He was struggling to speak smoothly but his nose and his stinging eyes were too much for him to handle. Nami really outdone herself.

And... the spell was broken.

"L-Lu..." Ace murmured, couldn't resist pulling his gaze away from Luffy. This was a hundred more times effective than what Cherish went through to build up.

"Y-You haven't answered my question. Faster, Aaaace," Luffy whined, wanting to have his meat as soon as possible and to wash his stinging eyes too.

Instead, Ace blushed at his tone and couldn't resist it anymore. He thought that Luffy was upset because he wasn't spending enough time with him and was hurt because he thought that Ace liked Cherish. The freckled teen hugged him in an attempt to comfort him and patted the back of his head. "Of course. But I like Lu a lot more, okay? Don't cry now..." he murmured and kissed his forehead. "I love you more, alright? You silly little brother."

Luffy was confused when Ace suddenly hugged him and spoke to him weirdly. However, Nami didn't allow him to say anything other than what she told him to so he just stayed there and listened to Ace babying him with words.

While the two men weren't looking, Nami took her bo staff and knocked out a speechless and shocked Cherish out of the boat while Robin made sure that she doesn't make her way back.

Everything was well now.

* * *

A bit of a long One Piece special but at the same time, I had been slacking off a lot on this fic so it's the least I could do. I just couldn't resist writing this after stumbling upon a few... mary-sue fics. Ugh. Nothing against the authors but I just hate marysues in general. 8'D Especially when they are formidable enough to shoot lasers from their tits-no really, it really annoyed me. I hate it when they made the real characters look like a bunch of shrieking damsel in distress that needed saving. And the romance was WAY out of hand. You'd have to be a deekhead to keep so many guys hanging without giving them a serious answer. 8'D However, there are a few OCs fic that I really love. xD

By the way, is it alright if I skip the battle scenes in future chapters? I really... can't do it. D:

Review, yeah?


	16. Gobble, Onomnomnom

Here I am with the next chapter! Luffy's obliviousness is really making it difficult for me to get him and Ace together. xD

**Naru-Sama: I'm not very into studying too but I'll try since I need to. xD I really don't mind OC but it gets kind of irritating when a mary-sue pops out. While I'm fine with people writing whatever they want, I still have my own opinions about it which was developed after reading about them on accidental. I just find them really, really annoying. Very annoying. XD**

**anonymous: Yes, they finally did! XD ANd the fangirl scream you just heard was me. :P Basically, a mary sue is like an OC but was develop to be the main character in a fanfiction with her personality/prowess/abilities carved into pure perfection. Annoying little things, yes. **

**Red-The-Drawing-Ninja: Ahahaha! I seem to be very into coming up with very unexpected scenes. :X I'm glad that you liked it!**

**shadowmarialove: I'm happy that you think so! XDD Thank you!**

**Lawlove15: Thank you and no problem! I'm happy to update my fics. :3**

**trisha23flow: Glad that you loved it and thanks! I really can't write them. D:**

**xxxWhite-Wing13xxx: I have a feeling that they were born to be whipped. xD I'm so sorry but I'm really bad at writing battle scenes so I doubt you would be seeing any from me. D: I really did try though...**

**azab: Thanks a lot and I do too xD**

**zdenkac09: Thank you and I will! :D**

**Chibi'prince-sama: I have this story going on for quite a long time though but I'm happy that you loved it! :DD I'll continue trying my best for my fics. :3**

**Pokabu: Ahahaha! I just suddenly came up with that out of nowhere. Marco is going to have a lot in his hands (as usual) as far as this fic would go. :P I really enjoy writing MarcoxSanji.**

**Yana05: Lol? XD**

**Biabara: I'll come up with them as soon as I introduce Law into the fic :3**

**Those-Sniper-Feels: Yes, SaboLaw! XD**

* * *

_"Third Gear! Gomu Gomu no Giganto Pistol!"_

After slamming a huge fist onto the trapped Ohm, the three of them won the battle. It wasn't difficult since Luffy was already way experienced and knew every single of his technique from First Gear to Third Gear. Ace was already a strong Whitebeard Pirates Commander at this point of time during their previous time. Sabo was a little awkward with his techniques due to the lack of practice ever since he regained his memory but was able to use his memory to his advantage.

Thus, the battle was over in the Ordeal of Iron.

When the smoke cleared, Ohm was found lying on the ground, defeated while the huge dog ran away as Luffy instructed him to. Ace and Sabo would never realized that the dog was the kind who listened to orders no matter who they were. Luffy was just the kind who would talk to any animals even though they were his enemies.

"Where is Luffy?" Ace asked.

"I don't know. He was up there slamming his huge fist down onto that idiot," Sabo replied and looked around. "I don't get how he could suddenly disappear unless he ran away on his own."

"Seriously," Ace grumbled and took a step forward, only to stumble a little backwards when he hit something with his hind leg. "Wha-?"

Looking down, the both of them finally found the one they were looking for, only it wasn't in the state they expected.

"Alright! Let's move on," Luffy, in a literally chibi sized with his proportions not looking quite right, exclaimed in determination as he started to march forward.

"Hold on a minute there!" Ace called out as he crouched down and grabbed the back of Luffy's collar. "Luffy? Wait, how did you get this small? What the heck did you do?"

"Let me go! We have to go," Luffy whined.

"Does it have anything to do with the technique you just did? I supposed all of your specially effective skills would have a setback somewhere," Sabo commented as he crouched down too.

"Really? I never heard of something which would flatten someone till this size," Ace said.

"Luffy is made of rubber so his whole body is pretty flexible. It is not impossible," Sabo reminded.

Luffy looked at them as they discussed his currently small sized state. He didn't find anything weird about it so why were they making such a big fuss over it? And he could've sworn that Ace was smiling weirdly when he grabbed him.

"Is any of your special attacks not harmful to your own body?" Ace asked as he picked Luffy up.

"H-Hey! Why are you carrying me?"

"It's too dangerous for you to walk around on your own. What if Sabo accidentally stepped on your head?"

"You almost did that!" Sabo exclaimed.

"And he looks kind of adorable in this size, doesn't he?" Ace asked Sabo excitedly.

Sabo sweat dropped when Ace didn't look as though he was going to put Luffy down. During the times whereby Sabo was gone, he didn't realize that Ace would develop a brother complex-although not quite since Ace didn't feel exactly brothery towards Luffy. But after Ace showed him a huge change of his own personality, Sabo couldn't really feel too shocked at whatever Ace was going to show him anymore.

At least his mood improved a lot now that he has Luffy in his arms.

"How long does it take for you to return to your normal size?" Ace asked. Not that Ace couldn't carry Luffy in his usual size but he wouldn't want to drop him in surprise if he suddenly changes back.

"Um... a while but I change back whenever I feel energized again," Luffy replied.

"That's not very... detailed," Sabo muttered.

Sabo had a feeling that he would be like this longer than usual.

While they were walking around in the midst of the rubble, they were keeping an eye out of this Enel guy. They stopped when they felt a small rumbling on the ground and expected for the worst. Suddenly, a huge snake popped out of nowhere and used his tongue to snatch Luffy (in his still small state) into his mouth while Ace and Sabo were frozen in shock.

After that, it still had the tendency to burp.

"Give," Ace started as his whole body burst into flames, "-my Luffy back!"

* * *

When Sanji woke up, he found that he was in a very... strange place.

The last thing he remembered was while the ship was sailing, a huge snake came out of nowhere. Marco and Sanji battled it easier since they could fight in the air. However, things didn't look too good when the snake opened it's big mouth and gobbled Sanji down. The blonde cook wasn't sure if Marco ended up like him too.

"Sanji?"

Okay, he did.

"You got gobbled up too?" Sanji groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess it can't be a bad thing. I don't want to get stuck in a shitty snake's stomach on my own."

"I got worried when you were swallowed in, yoi."

"Shitty thing," Sanji cursed.

That thing popped up during the worst possible times and now Sanji was pissed. Having your needed alone time was as rare as Luffy not being enticed by meat. Not only that, no one was sure how much longer they would be able to stay together. Wait, why was he even worrying over about such a thing. It's starting to be unbecoming of him.

He needed time to sort this whole thing out. Even though he was sure that he had feelings for Marco, he hadn't sorted out his own emotions. While he could pull off being obsessive over women, it was strangely new when it comes to Marco, who happened to be a man. On top of that, Sanji wasn't the kind who knew how to control his emotions well. He often acted on his feelings regardless of whether it was happiness or anger or sadness. And he was damn confused now.

Watching Marco looking around and trying to find an exit (seemingly ignoring his presence at the same time), Sanji felt...

… he felt...

… like punching him.

"Let's try and find the mouth," Marco said.

"Huh? Oh, alright."

"Are you alright, yoi?" Marco asked, concerned and walked over to Sanji. "You don't look and sound quite well. Is there something bothering you? I don't like being in someone's stomach either."

"No, it's fine. So we have to look for the mouth, right?" Sanji replied quickly.

Marco grabbed his hand, making Sanji stop in his place and he turned around to look at him curiously. Marco was sharp most of the time. Even when he didn't seem to like to get involved in other people's affair, he was a lot more concerned about Sanji. The blonde cook was like an open book and Marco already knew him for a long time.

But instead of bombarding him with questions, Marco gave him a small smile and walked forward, not letting go.

"Let's go. We should be able to find something, yoi."

"Y-Yeah," Sanji replied, still somewhat taken aback by Marco's sudden action. However, the uneasiness that he was feeling was slowly being washed away as long as his hand remained in Marco's.

Marco was really different from most people he met, Sanji thought.

"Was I making you uncomfortable in some way?" he asked.

"Of course not," Sanji replied immediately. "I was just having some problems of my own. Don't worry about it."

"If you say so, yoi. I'll wait for you until you're ready to tell me about it," he said. "Whether it's regarding myself or not, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in any way."

Sanji could feel his face slowly heating up before he pushed it away nicely. He knew that Marco was being kind and was willing to be patient with him. He had that kind of maturity due to age and experience. "Thanks. I'm just... not used to this. You're my first," Sanji hesitated as he struggled to find a comfortable word to use, "lover."

Marco chuckled softly, but not in a mocking way. "I'm glad to hear that, yoi. I never thought that I would be romatically involved with someone as young as you."

"You're just too old," Sanji said mockingly.

"You really know how to make an old man feel young," Marco retorted playfully.

"You are too active to be /that/ old, at least," he pointed out with a grin. "At least, I'm glad to know that you'll be around as long as I do. Or possibly, longer than I."

"Definitely longer than you are. It'll be... lonely without you around, yoi," Marco said and Sanji could felt him squeezing his his hand. "But let's not think about that."

"Marco..."

When Sanji was about to pursue the subject further, the ground beneath their feet suddenly shook and they could feel some invisible force pulling them from behind. Marco grabbed Sanji by the waist which made the blonde cook instinctively wrapped his arms around his neck. The Whitebeard Commander transformed his arms into a pair of phoenix wings and lifted the both of them off the ground as the 'walls' and 'grounds' shifted vertically.

The snake must have lifted it's body up.

Out of nowhere, Sanji thought that he could hear a small sound.

"Did you hear that?" Sanji asked Marco to confirm his suspicion.

"Yeah, it sounds familiar, yoi."

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

The source of the voice became louder and the two blonde males' eyes widen when they saw Luffy falling straight towards them. There wasn't any time wasted until Luffy's body collided into the two blondes in the air, causing Marco to lose his balance and made all three of them to fall deeper within the snake's stomach.

Until they Sanji hit something hard, supposedly one of the pillars the damn snake absorbed.

"Shit!" Sanji cursed. "You really have the worst timing, Luffy."

"You okay, yoi?" Marco asked in worry since he knew it must have hurt quite a lot with Marco AND Luffy slamming Sanji against that pillar. If Thatch were to see this, he would've reconfirmed Marco's title of being a mother hen.

"Sorry about that," Luffy replied with a sheepish grin after having reverted back to his original state. "I was with Ace and Sabo until this huge snake suddenly came out and ate me! What about you guys? What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? We got ate by that shitty snake too!" Sanji snapped.

Luffy stared at them before slamming his fist into into his palm in understanding. "Ah ha! So you guys got eaten by it too. That must have been horrible, huh?"

"You got eaten too! Don't rub it in our face," Sanji exclaimed and pulled onto both sides of Luffy's cheeks hard.

"You said that you were with Ace and Sabo, yoi. Does it mean that the snake brought us all the way to the altar? You guys were fighting pretty loud," Marco said.

"Yup! We have to find them soon. So let's hurry up and find this thing's ass and get out of here," Luffy suggested happily.

"Why the ass?" Marco asked even though he had a feeling that he shouldn't question it.

"We leave through the mouth," Sanji said firmly.

"But it'll be faster if we poop out of its ass," Luffy argued. "I don't care, we're going to look for the ass. I'm your captain and I say that we poop it out so that we can find Ace."

Sanji sighed and ran his head through his forehead. "Look-"

"The ass, the ass, the ass, the ass!"

"Luffy I really-"

"The ass! Let's go and look for the ass now!"

Before Luffy could say anymore, Sanji let go of whatever he was tolerating and a few bashes rang through the snake's stomach... or whatever they were in. Marco sighed at them and looked around to see what he could do.

"We're escaping through its mouth. So don't act like a kid and listen to me from now on, okay? We're not on a picnic."

"Y-Yes. I'm bewwi sowwie."

"Hold on to something," Marco suddenly called out after the shaking pillars caught his eyes.

The snake suddenly moved again as the movement caused everything around them to shake again. AT least they could hold onto the pillars which were embedded into the sticky, solid ground that was formed from it eating too much garbage. Sanji would've went on about indigestion problems but he'd rather not go into that.

Then, they eard another voice but it was clearer than when they heard Luffy before he fell onto them.

"Give Luffy back, you fucking monster," they heard Ace yell from outside.

After that, the tremors only became worse.

"Calm down, Ace!" they heard Sabo trying to calm Ace down. "You're really taking this whole liking him too far!"

"That damn thing just ate Luffy when he was small and helpless! How the fuck am I supposed to calm down? How can you be so calm? Be calm if you want but I'm going to toast this thing until it returns Luffy!"

"You're just acting this way because you want to hold him in his little state longer! Think about it! If you toast the snake, Luffy might get injured too, you big idiot!"

They have another problem in their hands.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL!**

"Ace, how are you comfortable with walking around naked?" Nami asked. "I mean, it's not a horrible sight to watch but usually guys would put a top over wherever they go. Even Luffy."

"Hmm? I don't find it a problem," Ace replied casually. "Luffy likes it anyway."

"Luffy?"

"Yeah..."

_Flashback in their previous lives_

_"Wow, Ace! Are these muscles?" Luffy, when he was twelve years old, asked in fasincation as he poked Ace's stomach where the abs were starting to form. _

_"Yep. I trained a lot so that I could become stronger," Ace said proudly._

_"Eh..." Luffy murmured in awe at the new discovery._

_"It'll be difficult for you to get a really muscular body since you're all scrawny and rubbery though," he teased and ruffled Luffy's hair. "Don't feel bad about it, kay?"_

_Luffy looked up at him and tilted his head to the side while grinning. "I'm not worried about that. Ace looks really cool with it. Will Ace keep growing? It's alright if Ace is cool!"_

_"Wh-wha-?" Ace stuttered when Luffy suddenly tackled him into a hug_

_"I want to see Ace growing stronger! Shishishishi! I think that you'll look really cool if you were to get big muscles," he commented while looking up at Ace in adoration. _

_End of Flashback_

"Since Luffy liked it so much, I might as well not wear a shirt," Ace finished explaining with a grin on his face.

Nami sighed and slapped her forehead. She was sure that Luffy didn't mean for Ace to not wear a shirt. That guy's words can be so misleading. Oh well, Nami thought as she looked at the brothers after Luffy called out for Ace.

At least they are happy.

* * *

There we go! Another chapter done. I'm kind of struggling a little since I want to try to prevent making Sanji or Luffy as feminine sounding as possible. Being the uke in a relationship really have a lot of openings for accidentally being feminine. I want to try to avoid that as much as I could while making them... legibly uke. LOL!

Review, yeah~?

Update: The deleted chapters have been restored! :D


	17. A New Shocking Discovery, Yeah Right

Wow, I was really quite surprised by the reviews in the last update. 8'D Thanks a lot, you guys! It really made my day!

I recently posted a new story, 'Beyond Brotherhood Collections' which is more like where I would post my AcexLuffy oneshots in rather than one with a solid plot. :3 Check it out if you have time since I may update that on random whims. On the other hand, Back to the Start is back in progress!

**twilightserius: It wouldn't be possible since Marco's flames on heal rather than harm someone. 8'D**

**Wolfy Valkyrie Cain Grimm: Thanks a lot! 8'D Sorry, I tend to overreact a lot. I'm quite the dramatic person xDD**

**Yana5: Me too! :DD**

**anonymous: I'm glad that you enjoyed this chapter too! I always found it adorable whenever I imagined Ace wanting to carry Luffy's miniature state! And chibi sized Luffy is just too adorable for me to pass up on! I'm starting to get a little high on MarcoxSanji now. XD And no problem! When people call a character a mary-sue, it's most likely that they are insulting them, I guess?**

** : Thanks! I really tend to overreact like how Ace does when it concerned Luffy but I guess I should've tried to calm myself down. And the snake gets to live since it was part of the sad story of this island. Dx I pretty much liked it but I couldn't resist having it swallowing Luffy again. :X**

**Chibi'prince-sama: It's alright xD I written quite a number of AcexLuffy fics now if you're interested. :P**

* * *

Last we left our heroes-No, who are we kidding- young lads, Ace was trying to rescue Luffy from the snake while Sabo was desperately stopping him from carrying out the possibility of burning their little brother at the same time. However, Ace was already winning and as time went by, each portion of the snake's body was starting to turn into a charcoal.

Meanwhile, the three eaten ones were diligently looking for a way out.

"It's starting to get warmer," Sanji complained.

"Hey, you're right!" Luffy piped in, only realizing the change in temperature when the cook mentioned it. "I wonder what is Ace doing outside. They seemed to be having lots of fun."

"LUUUUUUFFFFFYYYYYYY!"

Pretending not to hear Ace's war cry, Marco continued to investigate the area. The flesh of the snake was starting to turn a little too red for comfort. If they stayed here any longer, Ace might eventually burn a whole through for them to escape. However, Marco was smartly not convinced that any one of Ace's rescue missions would turn out well so he preferred to take a safer alternative whereby none of them would be risked getting burnt. That settled it. I would be a huge pain but Marco would have to carry both Sanji and Luffy upwards so that they could get out through the mouth.

He was strong, that was for sure but there was a risk with how the insides of the snake was trembling viciously.

Damn Ace. He just have to make things difficult for him even when he wasn't physically near. Marco frowned when he realized that they were almost out of time. The flesh was starting to get redder at an accelerated speed. Trust Ace to get unneeded things done. They would have to move now before-

"Wah! My butt feels hot!" Luffy exclaimed, turning his head back to look at his exposed buttocks.

-any one gets hurt.

"There is a hole," Sanji observed.

"We have to get out of here. The both of you have to hold on to me tight," Marco instructed.

He transformed into his phoenix form afterwards and allowed the both of them to ride on his back. He didn't like having just anyone riding on his back but at least he would be able to recover every time if he gets burnt and prevent himself from staggering at the same time. Luckily both Sanji and Luffy are haki users so grabbing onto him should be no problem, unlike normal people who would just fall through if they were to try.

When everything was ready, Marco immediately took off and flew after the direction they had fallen from. It was pretty easy for him to dodge the falling rumbles and pillars to prevent the two from getting hit. His sight and hearing tend to sharpen whenever he transformed fully. But despite that, he can't predict when that idiot would strike the snake from outside. Luffy's big brother was really going wild this time, Marco thought while resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

As he was doing all of that, he also had to try not to wince at Luffy shouting full blast near his sensitive ears.

"This is so cool! Pineapple head becomes a huge blue bird again and I'm finally riding on him! Woohoo! Dodge that one! And that one! This is coming in our way. This is so much fun!" Luffy screamed.

"We're almost there," Sanji pointed out.

When they finally cleared its throat, the snake suddenly gave a loud burp, causing the three of them to be roughly pushed out of the snake's mouth. And of course, the landing wasn't very well executed.

By the time Ace realized that Luffy was outside, the snake had already been toasted but surprisingly, not dead yet. Sabo let out a sigh of relief that he didn't have to go through the comical drama of Ace complaining over how he accidentally burnt Luffy to charcoal when he was trying to save him. At least now, Ace's mood was improved once again when he saw Luffy safe and sound, although also a bit peeved because he couldn't get to hold Luffy in his miniature size.

But what was really shocking was the hole at the back of Luffy's pants. Sabo did have an idea on what exactly happened to it. Ace, on the other hand, wasn't the wiser.

"Luffy! Why is there a hole there?" Ace asked frantically while trying to hide his blush.

"Here? It got kind of hot there when I was in the snake then this happened."

It wasn't exactly a horrid sight to see. Ace had to admit that Luffy has the cutest pair of buttocks. At least, he would prefer to catch a glimpse of his rather than his crewmates whom he had to shower with. That hole in his pants wasn't helping that blush of this die out either. It looked as though it was easy access although Ace would never dream about trying to force himself on Luffy. But damn, it's difficult not to just stare and Luffy didn't plan on making it easier for him.

Sabo just thought Ace an idiot – nothing out of the ordinary.

Meanwhile Marco and Sanji both got onto their feet after Luffy did. They mostly didn't bother about Ace being fixated on Luffy's butt and instead, chose to affirm each other's wellbeing instead. If that landing didn't break some bones, some miracle butt-naked angels must be looking down at them, which is kind of impossible since Sky Island was still in its shitty state.

The both of them still hadn't separated from their position of Marco holding Sanji when he helped the blonde cook up.

"Are you alright?" Marco asked for the second time of that day. After all, Sanji's backbone must be in quite a bad shape from the pillar hit just now. Even though Sanji's body was stronger than an average person's, he still wasn't a devil fruit ability user.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Been through worse," Sanji grunted.

Sensing Sanji's lack of mood, Marco decided not to push it and decided to continue to hold him in case he couldn't walk by himself. However, he tried to make his help more discreet since he knew that all of them had their pride. Sadly, Ace didn't have that kind of tact and tends to simply run his mouth like a ship motor in the worst situation.

"Y-You two," Ace stammered as he pointed at Marco and Sanji. "The both of you are together? Why didn't I hear any of this? When? How? What the hell?"

"This isn't the time, yoi," Marco said.

"No wait, seriously! Since when?" Ace asked again as he rushed towards Marco. After that, he started to grab his shoulders and screamed in his face. "Why the hell are you faster than me?"

Annoyed, Marco had to push him away and try to fend off the saliva that was flying towards him. Why was he always so full of energy? It wouldn't do good for their later battles if Ace were to continue spazzing out and screeching like a headless chicken. Was it that difficult to believe that Marco and Sanji were together? Actually, yes. Even Marco had no idea how the both of them could get together. However, he wasn't going to complain.

"Get yourself together. We can talk about this later," Marco said firmly.

"No way! We have plenty of time now. And it's not like our enemy is going to show up soon," Ace retorted and gestured to the peaceful atmosphere around them.

On the sidelines, Luffy was digging his nose uncaringly while Sabo was investigating the ruins.

"Geez, you're really noisy," Sanji complained and rolled his eyes. "We became lovers before we got eaten up by that shitty snake."

Marco was quite surprised at Sanji's bluntness but still couldn't get the strange yet pleasing feeling of being called his lover off his chest. It was really a dream come true. The blonde commander chuckled softly and ruffles Sanji's hair.

At the scene, Ace couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. He wished that Luffy would stop being so goddamn dense and oblivious. Although Ace's advances had been more than just obvious, the strawhat little brother of his just wouldn't get it. And if his actions weren't subtle enough, he didn't what to imagine what Luffy would say if Ace were to come out direct. He'd probably think the wrong way and he was sure that the answer wouldn't be favorable. Still, he couldn't help but feel happy that his best friend was having a life of his own.

And that he didn't have to do chores for three fucking months.

In the midst of the conversation, Luffy's stomach growled.

"You again," Sanji mumbled and shook his head in amusement. "How about lunch? You guys didn't get to eat, right? I think I can make something if we can find a river nearby."

Except, they would have to walk quite a long way to find one.

"I'll just go and catch something, yoi," Marco said.

"You did quite a lot of flying today. Aren't you tired?" Sanji asked.

"I'm fine. You should rest since you took quite a huge blow just now," he reassured and kissed Sanji on the top of the forehead, causing Ace's jaws to drop at the scene. "I'll be back soon."

When Marco transformed his arms into wings and flew off, Sanji turned around to find Ace looking at him like a gaping fish. After he regained his composure, Ace took on a serious stance and placed his hands on Sanji's shoulders as the blonde cook looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What?"

* * *

While Marco was off gathering food, Ace had been bombarding Sanji with questions until the cook couldn't take it anymore and shoved Luffy into Ace's arms. The effect wasn't surprising since Ace immediately lost his attention on him and diverted it to Luffy instead by holding his little brother close affectionately. As for Sabo, he returned from browsing through the ruins and shook his head at the sight of Ace holding Luffy protectively. Everytime Luffy made Ace worried sick, Ace would suddenly develop an over protectiveness over him and wouldn't let Luffy out of sight.

Luffy didn't mind the attention either since it was Ace and he was used to being showered with it for years now. Instead, he would always snicker pleasingly and returned it with a hug of his own. He really loved Ace a lot.

Suddenly, the sky began to grow darker and soft rumblings could be heard. When a lightning struck on the ground before them, they had to shield their eyes from the intense brightness before it faded away to reveal the self-proclaimed god of this island.

Enel.

"My name is Enel and I'm the god of this place," he introduced as he sat on his cloud seat. "And everyone of you are involved in my very own survival game. Right now, they are five of us present."

"Five? There are still everyone else, including Marco," Sabo pointed out.

"Oh, don't worry. I shot them down one by one and the birdie was no exception. As rare as a human transforming into an animal may be, they are still no match for me," Enel said proudly. "Now, will all of you follow me to a new era?"

"A new era?" Although Ace sounded interested, he was looking as though this guy had a lower IQ than Luffy. He knew that Marco couldn't be taken down so easily.

"I seek to return to a place where I should be. On the sky island where I was born and where people says god lives. People call it the Fairy Vearth and there is a limitless amount of land. That is the world I seek, that is what I deserve to have! This god's island. This puny piece of land is nothing and yet there are people who fought for centuries to control it!"

Sabo folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at this madman.

"This country in the sky defies all laws of nature! Earth, men and god all have a place where they belong. And I'm sending this place to where it belong, below the sky."

"That would kill many people," Sabo pointed out. "And what do you mean by us following you?"

"All of you shall follow me to the Fairy Vearth as my followers. Once we're there, I'll create a new god's land. And only those who are chosen by me may live there. And since my previous followers couldn't survive the survival game, they are unfit to follow me," Enel declared.

"I refuse," Sanji said and lit up his cigarette.

"What?" Enel paused and looked down at him, narrowing his eyes. "Why would you refuse? You are one of the chosen ones. If you refuse, you will have to fall with this country."

"Yeah but I'm not going to follow your shitty ass." Sanji smirked. "Even if I don't believe in god, the world would cry itself to a shitty death if it has to stare up your shitface everyday."

Enel looked down at him condescendingly before cackling. "You're a brave one! Very well! To honor your wish, I shall send you off first before I'm done with this world. I never liked a shallow follower," Enel said and before anyone could think, Sanji was struck with lightning for the third time of his time in Sky Island.

"Sanji!" Luffy exclaimed and glared at Enel. "No one hurts my friends and gets away with it!"

"Hmph. You too? Then I guess I have no need for you as well."

"Sorry but I was sleeping through your story," Ace said and turned his hand into flames. "You hurt one of my friends and upset Luffy. The man who possess a Logia type devil fruit ability. You better be ready."

"You..." Enel muttered and for a moment there, a hint of fear shone in his eyes before they disappeared.

Knowing some medical treatment, Sabo tended to Sanji instead while Ace and Luffy got ready to fight Enel. Everyone knew that Sanji would come out alive, since he survived the two hits from before and he was glad that they were right when he checked Sanji's pulse. The man is still alive and well, alright. But Luffy still didn't take it well when someone tried to hurt his friends.

Above his head, he caught a flaming blue bird flying towards them before it landed on the ground.

When the flames disperse and Marco's human form came forward, the look on his face wasn't the most pleasant. In fact, Ace could have sworn that it was the most terrifying look Marco had on his face.

Some god is screwed.

* * *

**One Piece SPECIAL**

"Ace really spoils Luffy a lot, doesn't he?" Nami asked.

"Yeah. I was quite surprised when I first found out about it. Before I left, Ace was quite violent with Luffy and often hit him out of small reasons. But despite that, Luffy still liked him a lot so I wasn't too shocked to hear that Ace warmed up to him till this much eventually," Sabo explained.

"Wasn't Ace like this the whole time?"

Sabo shook his head and laughed. "No way! Ace was really a difficult person to make friends with and the only reason why we were close was because we understood each other. But for Luffy... he was different from us but was kind of lonely. Although Ace scolded him a lot, I could tell that Ace liked him a lot or else he wouldn't even care."

"But no matter how you look at it, it's quite surprising to hear that Ace didn't dote on Luffy before," Nami pointed out as he observed the scene before them.

"Ace, I wanna playyy!" Luffy whined.

Ace laughed and carried Luffy in his arms. "But I have work to do. I guess I can spare a few minutes for you," he said and nuzzled his nose against Luffy's, earning a small pleased giggle from the younger teen.

"Ace is the best!" Luffy cheered before pressing and rubbing his cheek against Ace's freckled one, which the affection was returned by the older teen.

Sabo knew that the both of them could have something so much more and he knew it because he understood how much Luffy loved Ace. To other people, they may act brotherly towards each other but the intense feelings they had for each other was way beyond that. As their true brother, he preferred to watch over them as they got close to each other and made sure that no one tried to mess with them.

Being a big brother really had a lot of work cut out for him.

* * *

And here it is! Sorry to say that there won't be any battle scenes but I would most likely described what happened during it in the next chapter. Unless someone is willing to write the battle scene for me? 8'D I highly doubt so though...

Anyway, this is just a heads up. If anyone of you noticed, the way I wrote Ace is somewhat different in each of my AceLu stories. xD

Back to Start - Ace is more matured and arguably, more fatherly like towards Little-Ace and Little-Luffy. And isn't that obsessive towards Luffy.

It's Time For A Change - Dramatic and overreacts easily when it comes to Luffy. xP Quite obsessive.

Problematic Kids - Overreacts somewhat but acts more brotherly towards him. Also, gets jealous pretty easily but mostly humor content that is set to torture him.

Shin Sekai! Number Ten! - I would say that this version is the closest to canon that I've written. Calm-collected, still worries over his brother in the canon-like way, isn't too fixated on Luffy as 'It's Time for a Change' and 'Problematic Kids', very mature and more romantic.

So yeah.

Review, please? :D


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